Shibden Hall on a summer evening provided the perfect backdrop for some top entertainment by a cast of just three.

Our genial host gently cajoled us to follow him into the various courtyard, garden and parkland settings where the fates of Henry VIII's six wives were played out.

Marcus Holden was likeably amusing as Henry, totally delighted with himself for inventing the Church of England and making almost addictive use of the powers he had conferred upon himself as its head to cock a snook at the Pope and ring the matrimonial changes required to secure an heir and a spare.

Getting fatter and more outrageous as heads rolled, he cut an almost sympathetic figure as his queens, cavorting across the lawn, flashed through his mind before he quietly expired.

He also doubled up as his own messenger and as the executioner.

Rebecca Gadsby played Catherine of Aragon, Jane Seymour and Anne of Cleves with great authority and with a good ear for accents, also taking in pompous Thomas Cranmer.

Katherine Glenn relished her celebrity as flirty Anne Boleyn and gold-digging Katherine Howard, as well as playing Catherine Parr and crafty Thomas Cromwell.

Lightning flashed, thunder rolled and the first drops of rain fell as this delightful evening came to an end.

Julia Anderson