ROMEO AND JULIET: Rob Hall as Romeo and Eleanor Blackham as Juliet with other members of the cast at Titchfield Abbey. Echo photo by Chris Moorhouse. Order no: hh060dl4

Tracie Billington-Beardsley rounds up the latest amateur dramatic news.

THE MAMMOTH summer season for Titchfield Festival theatre is underway with the Bard's most famous romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet.

This classic tale of star-crossed lovers is performed in the open-air with the magnificent backdrop of Titchfield Abbey.

While Stratford may lay claim to being the Bard's home, Titchfield is making a bid as the place he is thought to have penned many of his masterpieces.

Local folklore and myth says that Romeo and Juliet may have been part written and even performed at the Abbey in Shakespeare's day.

Theatre-goers can enjoy a picnic before the show in the delightful grounds and even if this glorious weather doesn't remain, the auditorium is protected from the elements by a state-of-the-art canopy.

The group will be performing two of the other great Shakespearian works - As You Like It and The Taming of the Shrew later this summer.

Until 29 June. Performances nightly at 7.45pm and on Sunday at 3pm. Tickets: £10. Box office: 01329 849543

IF YOU'RE going to update a production, it's not just the set and costumes that require a face-lift as Southampton Operatic Society have discovered.

The group have set Gilbert and Sullivan's Princess Ida in the 1950s. The final battle scene of this opera, which Gilbert wrote as a satire on women's education, is traditionally fought using swords and shields but this makeover meant male actors learning how to throw a few punches, wield a baseball bat and execute a karate chop!

"Instead of the male principals being warriors, they are Brylcreemed bikers in rival gangs who end up fighting one another to determine the fate of the headstrong Princess Ida," explains the

society's chairman Adam Case.

He added: "As none of us are the brawling type, we decided we needed a professional in to teach us a few moves we could execute without actually causing grievous bodily harm to one another."

The group enlisted the help of fight director Paul Benzing, currently working with the National Theatre, who has created a very convincing and comic finale fight scene to this story of the battle of the sexes.

"The fight draws genuine gasps of amazement from the female chorus," says Adam, "who I think given half the chance would join in!"

27 - 28 June. Tickets: £6. Box office: 023 8067 1771.

AFTER more than fifty years, the Esso Music and Drama Group, based near Hythe, have changed their name. This award-winning group is now called Waterside Theatre Company.

The change has been driven by the fact that Esso Sports and Social Club, of which the drama group is a sub-section, has changed its name and status to mark its independence from the Esso/Exxon companies.

The group is on the lookout for new talent - be it backstage or in the limelight. Mike Galpin from Waterside said: "We will start rehearsals soon for a variety show to be performed in October and we are already planning our major production The Wizard of Oz which will take to the stage in February."

For more information on joining contact membership secretary Gill Trelawney on 023 8084 7341 or visit www.watersidetheatrecompany.org.uk.

Burdock Valley Players (BVP, below) are celebrating a double success in a recent One Act Play Festival organised by the Friends of Cricklade Theatre. This annual festival is in its 24th year and is connected to Cricklade College in Andover.

Eight amateur groups competed over three evenings and BVP scooped two trophies. The Andover Theatre Arts Bowl went to their talented younger performers for their production of All the World's a Stage and the Page Mundin Award for Best Set went to Jill Lloyd for the staging of Consequences.The awards were presented by the Mayor of Test Valley, Councillor Pat West.