ROCK'N'ROLL PARTY AS BARD BREAKS INTO THE SECRET GARDENS

Shakespeare would be spinning in his grave.......

When the Merry Wives of Windsor are let loose in the Secret Gardens of Sandwich next week, there's gonna be a whole lotta shakin' goin' on!

Director Rob Forknall has taken the Bard's immortal comedy and turned it into a rock and roll riot. There won't be so much dancing in the streets, however, as dancing on the lawns as the cast from the Hazlitt's Changeling Theatre strut their stuff amid the hebes and hibiscus in this, one of Kent's most wonderful private gardens.

Gates open at 6pm on what promises to be a perfect summer's evening, so visitors can sip champagne and take a stroll around the lush gardens, now at their glorious best, before settling down among the flowers for a colourful night of comedy and side-splitting mirth - Shakespearean-style.

The Secret Gardens of Sandwich are the epitome of an English Country Garden, with 3.5 acres of stunning beds, borders, meadows and woodland, devised at the turn of the century by Gertrude Jekyll and lovingly restored over the past four years. Unseen for almost a quarter of a century, they have been brought back to life - and there will undoubtedly be plenty of that on Wednesday, July 7, when the travelling thespians take to the floor.

There are still a few tickets available for this one-off performance, priced £15 for adults and £7.50 for children, from the Hazlitt Arts Centre Box Office, Maidstone (01622 758611) or the Deal Festival Box Office (01304 381134).