If applause be the sound of love, then Lakespeare's open-air production of Twelfth Night well and truly captured the hearts of the large audience, seated in the round on the Patrick White lawns under a clear blue sky. Enthusiastic and appreciative clapping erupted spontaneously at the end of each scene as audiences hung on every word, burst into delighted laughter at love's foibles and confusions and supped full on Twelfth Night's surfeit of wit and wile. Originally written as an in-court entertainment to celebrate the 12th night after Christmas, Shakespeare's popular comedy, under the direction of Christopher Stollery may have lost some of the nuance of an interior setting, but none of the rumbustious ebullience of this evergreen 400-year-old comedy.

The lovesick Orsino (Duncan Driver ), Duke of Illyria, enters through the audience, borne high on a covered trolley, accompanied by a company of motley characters, magnificently costumed in Fiona Victoria Hopkins' stunning creations. Stollery's cast and creatives breathe new life into an age old comedy abounding with delightful characters, hilarious confusions and heart-warming moments. Though the challenges to sight and sound of playing in the round and in the open-air occasionally intrude, nothing can detract from the freshness, vitality and sheer entertainment of Lakespeare and Co's Twelfth Night or What You Will.

Twins, Sebastian (Joel Hutchings) and Viola (Lexi Sekuless) are separated after a shipwreck that casts them ashore on Illyria, where all appears tomfoolery, trickery and the random piercing of Cupid's arrow.

Love's confusions abound. Orsino pines with unrequited love for the aloof Lady Olivia . Olivia, played with waves of manic neurosis by Ylaria Rogers, succumbs to obsessive love for Viola, disguised as a male Cesario and in Orsino's employ. The love of Olivia's steward, a misguided Malvolio (Christopher Samuel Carroll) is reviled by his disdainful mistress. Viola is compelled to suppress her love for Orsino. Sebastian's companion, the sea captain Antonio (Varek Sharma), believes his love to be betrayed when he confuses Cesario for Sebastian. Shakespeare holds his mirror up to nature to show "what fools these mortals be", not in malice but with affection that ends happily in love triumphant, with a dance and a song to make all well that ends well. Only the pompous Malvolio, in a superb performance by Carroll, is left to "be reveng'd on the whole pack of you" after a cruel deception played on him by Olivia's maidservant Maria (Lainie Hart) and the dissolute Sir Toby Belch (P.J. Williams) and his foolish companion in drunken debauchery, Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Cameron Thomas) They are mischievously assisted by Olivia's servant Fabian (Tim Sekuless) and the wonderfully free-spirited clown Feste, played with cheeky charm by multi-talented singer, musician and actor, Lloyd Allison-Young.

Stollery's direction is contagiously exuberant. His excellent cast embrace the family picnic atmosphere of this open-air summer entertainment with relish. Text is laced with contemporary Canberra references much to the delight of the local crowd.

Lakespeare and Co. brings free Shakespeare to a wildly appreciative audience. Its initiative is a gift to Canberra's cultural life, too important to ignore. This is no musty revival of the Bard, but Shakespearean comedy as it was intended to be, a fun-filled entertainment for every age.