Ali Baba from the Tales of the Arabian Nights.

An age-old theatrical tradition will be continued next Sunday at Lytham Hall in the final open air play of the season.

The five members of the cast of the outdoor touring company Illyria will double up several times to play all forty thieves as they recreate the classic story of Ali Baba from the Tales of the Arabian Nights.

The production comes to Lytham towards the end of a three month nationwide tour which has taken the cast to 52 different venues, including a week at the famous open air theatre at Minack in Cornwall.

Stephen Badham, company producer for Illyria, who enjoyed his first visit to Lytham Hall last Saturday to see the performance of Frankenstein believes the show is a feast for the eyes and ears.

"It's a very high-energy show, with drama, humour, spectacular sword fighting and lightning costume changes. It has been very well received by family audiences throughout our tour and it's ideal for a Bank Holiday Sunday afternoon."

Julian Wilde, organiser of the outdoor season at Lytham Hall, is looking forward to Ali Baba as the finale of a very successful summer of theatre and to the warm and dry weather forecast. .

“We are expecting very many families and for some of the children it will be their first experience of a live play. They can sit on the grass right in front of the stage.

The doubling up is all part of the fun and the thieves will have numbers on their backs from one to forty in the style of footballers.

I think the whole experience will be a real comic eye-opener for littluns and biguns alike”.

Tickets on line www.illyria.co.uk www.lowtherpavilion.co.uk Details and tickets www.lythamhall.org.uk

01 253 736652