ABSTRACT
I am not a regular listener to The Archers, but in the early stages of preparing this chapter it seemed that every time I got into the car the programme was on the radio. The main storyline at the time concerned an attempt to mount a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Ambridge. Rather like the programme’s fictional characters I became frustrated at how long this wretched project seemed to be taking. In one episode the actors who had volunteered or been cajoled into the production were at the end of their tether when the director announced that she was to do yet another workshop as part of the preparation. ‘Why can’t we just get on and learn the lines?’ one amateur thespian asked a friend.
