King Arthur & The Sword in the Stone Cambridge Touring Theatre Various venues throughout the summer until 26th August 2012 Check www.cambridgetouringtheatre.co.uk for extract venues and dates

I took my nine and seven year olds to see this wonderful production of King Arthur in the beautiful kitchen garden at Dorney Court near Windsor. The setting in the walled garden was perfect.  The stage comprising of a couple of medieval tents, one of which housed the music, was adapted to each of the different scenes. Merlin the wizard meets Wart and decides he will be a perfect pupil and sets about teaching him important lessons whilst on the way to a tournament in London where Excalibur is stuck in the stone. The ambitious Morgan Le Fey believes it is her destiny to be ruler of England rather than Wart and the sword should be hers so engages the rather dippy Madame Mim to teach her all she knows as they follow Merlin and Wart's travels. As you can imagine there is plenty of fun and games on the way as they meet various characters who are sent to test Wart and his worthiness to be the King of England, confuse and confound Mim and expose Morgan as the power- hungry person she is. The players were all wonderful and entertaining, encouraging lots of audience participation especially from the little ones sat near the front of the stage. There is a pre-performance workshop for ages 5-10 and I expect some of the some of kids had joined in this experience judging by their familiarity with the players and the play which was lovely to see. There were some moments that my children thought were brilliant; Hedge Mcbadgerson the Explorer tasting selective nibbles from the audience's picnics, jousting competition between Sir  Pellinore and Sir Grummore, the 'None shall pass' sketch and the audience participation in the Magnificent Madame Mim's Zumba class. The whole experience was entertaining and my children stayed enthralled throughout the two hour performance ( there is a 20 minute interval for ice creams). The performances this summer are all open air, which is a wonderful experience, but do dress accordingly. We were lucky enough to see the play on a dry evening, but we were glad to have a few layers to add as the sun went down. The garden was full though everyone had a good view of the stage and it was lovely to see so many families with children and grandparents, all enjoying the evening. Take your own folding chairs or picnic rugs, sun cream or brolly depending on the forecast. Most venues provide refreshments, Dorney Court Kitchen Garden had a variety of delicious things at the interval, but you can always bring your own picnic.