LOVE is in the air and it's not just play acting as the two lead actors in Breakaway Theatre Company's production of As You Like It are to marry soon after the play's run at the St Albans School Amphitheatre.

Director Mark Summers didn't cast himself as Orlando for the play, it just turned out that way, but fortunately for him his Rosalind is none other than his fiancee Emma Dinoulis.

"It wasn't planned to work out like this," says Emma. "But I believe it is a very romantic story. I was cast as Rosalind, not just by Mark (as director), but by the casting team. When no other young men were available to take the role of Orlando, Mark had to take on that role with only a month to go.

"As it turned out, I was very happy that he did take the role because it is very easy for me to act being in love with him as Mark and I are engaged to be married this September. It is very romantic saying on stage, "I'll have no husband if you be not he", knowing that on Saturday, September 8, we will marry for real."

Shakespeare's boisterous romantic comedy is a tale of love trysts and mistaken identities set in the verdant in the Forest of Arden, as numerous couples and families are divided, then reconciled at the play's joyful conclusion.

The production is to be staged outdoors in the pastoral setting of the St Albans School Amphitheatre, a setting perfectly in tune with the play's lighthearted air. Behind the scenes though, the conditions were not always quite so fair.

"It's been pretty challenging to take on the acting as well as directing," Mark admits. "I decided to do the part at the end of April and the recent poor weather has put us out a bit. The forecast is supposed to be better next week," says Mark. "Hopefully we won't have to don wet weather gear and perform As You Like It in wellies."

Mark says the costume design is not strictly historical "It's more Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest, medieval-style rather than Elizabethan", he says. "However, the music has been specially commissioned and is a variation on an original madrigal. Parts will be sung by singers and with instrumental accompaniment on the flute."

Breakaway Theatre's production of William Shakespeare's As You Like It runs from Wednesday, May 30 to Saturday, June 2 at 7.45pm with a Saturday matinee at 2.30pm at St Albans School Amphitheatre. Audiences are encouraged to bring a picnic and something warm to wear should the summer breezes turn chilly

Tickets: 01727 864511 and www.breakawaytheatre.co.uk (£8-10)