WHAT could be more magical than sitting outside on a summer evening watching a classic story unfold in a courtyard setting.

If that sounds like your ideal weekend wind down then it is the Lawrence Batley Theatre for you on Sunday.

The theatre hosts a Warwickshire-based company called Heartbreak Productions who will be playing there at 7pm.

But the company will not play any of the LBT’s three indoor spaces. The drama of The Secret Garden will unfold outside, in the courtyard of the Georgian listed building.

What better setting for a story which was written in 1910 by Frances Hodgson Burnett and was to become an enduring favourite with generations of children.

Young or old, we all need our friends and that is just what this enchanting story reminds its audiences of.

The story of young Mary Lennox, sent to live with her reclusive uncle and a spoilt, sickly cousin Colin, has become a familiar one.

Her loneliness drives her to find a way into a secret garden which she nurtures with the help of Dickon and Mother Nature.

David Kerby-Kendall has adapted this heart-warming story for this outdoor production.

He says of the original: “I had never read The Secret Garden before and was utterly charmed by it – by its beauty, its brutal honesty, its intrinsic Britishness, and of a beautifully written story that is both extraordinarily sad, but ultimately triumphant and life-empowering.”

David starting writing three years ago. His first play Save Your Kisses For Me played to critical acclaim (and apparently more importantly, his mum liked it) in a London fringe production in 2007 and his second play The Moon is Halfway to Heaven is opening at a London fringe venue in the autumn.

Last year, David became in-house writer for Heartbreak Productions and The Secret Garden is his first full scale adaptation.

“Frances Hodgson-Burnett’s wonderful prose was incredibly easy to adapt because her story is as pertinent today as it was in 1910, indeed as it would be at any time,” he said.

“It said that children adapt better than adults; that they are less likely to judge others of a different class or belief system, because they have yet to take on the unnecessary conventions we allow to taint our lives when we reach adulthood.

“I think this novel proves that we are all children, that we can all adapt no matter what age we are. It’s a story of spiritual magic, and how that magic links everybody’s souls and brings us closer together. If only this wonderful story could be a microcosm for the rest of the world.”

This is certainly a show which should appeal to all the family.

Director Marie McCarthy thinks that with the beautiful theatre as a backdrop, this production is guaranteed to have a degree of magic.

“The belief in magic is an abiding thing in The Secret Garden,” she said.

“The magic of nature brings a neglected and decaying garden to life and allows the children to get on with living.”

Tickets are £12 and £10 (concessions) from the box office on 01484 430528 or online at www.thelbt.org.

The advice is to take warm clothing to put on as the sun goes down and to take along your own folding chairs or blanket to sit on.