IN A clearing in the forest at Royden Park, there is something unusual going on. A stage set is being constructed in front of stands holding 440 seats, ready for the Hillbark Players’ biennial Shakespeare production.

This year, the Wirral-based group is breaking with tradition to perform one of the Bard’s tragedies – Macbeth, or “the Scottish Play” as superstitious theatre types call it.

Its director, Nick Sample, is not afraid to say the play’s name out loud, despite a near-disaster when one of the leads nearly broke his ankle during rehearsal.

“The bad luck continues,” he jokes.

But even rain cannot cause this outdoor production to be cancelled.

“The audience is under cover so only the actors can get wet,” explains Sample. “In the Players’ history, it has only been rained off once.”

Celebrating the 35th anniversary of its foundation, the Hillbark Players have quite a history.

Originally set up to mark Shakespeare’s 400th birthday, with an outdoor performance of Much Ado About Nothing in Royden Park, the grounds of Hillbark stately home.

Back then, the house was being used as an old people’s home by Wirral Council, rather than a posh hotel as it is today.

The production was such a success that the Players tackled a Shakespeare play each year until 1968 and, after a seven-year gap due to lack of funding, there have been biennial performances since 1975.

Sample joined the organisation in 1998, to work on promoting Winter’s Tale, and this is the first year he will be directing.

“We decided to set the play in the time when Macbeth was actually around, in the mid-11th century,” he says.

“There have been a lot of productions recently where they have messed around with the text and set it in other periods, but I wanted to give it a historical feel and also have all the characters in there.

“Hecate, the chief witch, is usually missed out and we include the Porter, too.”

The woods will provide a natural backdrop for Macbeth, which is on next week, and the Players have created additional scenery out of pieces left over from last year’s Chester Mystery Plays.

“I dashed over and rescued it before it was thrown out,” reveals Sample, who has previously directed several plays for the Bebington Dramatic Society, based at the Gladstone Theatre.

The cast comes from amateur theatre groups based across the North West, and includes brothers Charles and Martin Riley as enemies Macbeth and Macduff.

“There are three families that have two generations in the production, so in real life Banquo is married to Lady Macbeth,” says the play’s director.

Eighteen months of preparation have gone into the production, which includes making all the costumes designed by company member Val Marshall.

THE Hillbark Players production of Macbeth is in Royden Park, Frankby, June 22-27. Tickets £10-£16, 0151 666 0000.