Shakespeare under the stars is easy to love. Even if the performance stinks, there’s something to be said for sitting on a lawn chair and sipping iced tea, all the while watching one of the world’s great scripts come to life before your eyes.

The real test, of course, happens when it rains. Which it did last week during a dress rehearsal for Ten Bucks Theatre’s production of “As You Like It.”

If the weather holds, theatergoers can get the full Shakespeare al fresco experience through July 29 at Indian Trail Park in Brewer. In case of rain, the performance will move to Between Friends Gift Shop and Arts Center (formerly Center Mall Antiques) on Main Street in Brewer. In addition, an Aug. 4 performance is scheduled on the grounds of Woodlawn Museum in Ellsworth.

At last week’s rehearsal, all the world was not a stage. Instead of Indian Trail Park, the players crammed into a dance studio, sans sets, sweltering in the humidity. Their cues were muffled by the door that separated the actors from the “backstage” area. Cell phones and scrap paper filled in for props.

But who needs stars, iced tea and lawn chairs when you’ve got country bumpkins courting cosmopolitan maidens and melancholy moonshiners waxing philosophical? It’s easy to forget there’s no forest, no moonshine still, no props when director Putnam Smith is at the helm, turning this classic comedy of familial and political divisions into a hillbilly holiday.

Smith has set the play in Civil War-era Appalachia, exploring the North vs. South issue that often divided families of the time.

“As You Like It” has more music in it than any other Shakespeare play. And though Smith initially considered bringing in a chamber quartet, he found his inspiration a little closer to home. He’s a banjo player, and the idea of an Old-Timey jug band appealed to him. Smith and the Billy Shakes String Band will provide live musical accompaniment at each performance.

The rest fell into place quite nicely. Thematically – and linguistically – the script remains the same as the original. However, the costumes and music speak less to France and the Forest of Arden and more to Washington, D.C., and the Appalachian countryside.

“One could follow the play or story based on what people are doing, even if they don’t understand a word, and enjoy themselves along the way,” Smith said. “They can listen to live music and this play has a lot of slapstick – some of which is in the play, some of which we added.”

Take, for instance, Allen Adams in the role of Charles the wrestler (he also plays the melancholy Jaques). His brief, over-the-top boorishness alone is worth the price of admission. And then there are the wayward teenage sheep, who are baaaaad-ass. And Phoebe, played by Emily Gammon (who also plays a sheep), is lasciviously – and delightfully – wicked.

At the center of the play are the lovestruck Orlando (Simon Ferland) and Rosalind (Frances Idlebrook). Together with their counterparts – her cousin Celia (Rebecca Bailey) and his brother Oliver (Joe Bearor), they are in turns sweet and earnest, silly and conniving, and incandescent enough to light up even a dreary evening.

“With a comedy like this, the fun is working with talented actors who find things in the play I never even thought of,” Smith said. “It’s really a joy.”

Even on a rainy night, in a crowded room.

‘As You Like It’

Who: Ten Bucks Theatre

Where: Indian Trail Park, off North Main Street, Brewer

When: 6 p.m. July 26, 27 and 28; 2 p.m. July 29

Admission: $10 for adults, $5 for students

Information: www.tenbuckstheatre.com; 884-1030

In case of rain: Between Friends Gift Shop and Arts Center (formerly the Center Mall Antiques), Main Street, Brewer.

Ellsworth performance: 4 p.m. Aug. 4, Woodlawn Museum