HAVE you ever wondered what happens to characters when they head out of a scene? Their lives continue; they do things; they go to places; they make choices and they talk to people.

In the case of Shakespeare’s lesser lights Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet, Tom Stoppard even built a 1966 play around them, Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead.

Likewise, it is not uncommon for actors to pin their characters’ imagined back story on the rehearsal room board to help them build a role. Now 16 members of York Theatre Royal Youth Theatre’s 16 to 19 group are spinning such ideas in a different direction in Shedspeare, giving you the chance to meet some lesser-known characters somewhere during their play, when they are not on stage but they are in a shed.

“Come chat, interact and discover their story outside of the story,” say the company.

Three 7ft by 7ft garden sheds, acquired “in various states of disrepair” by director Julian Ollive through the magic of the Freecycle network, will become a temporary home to Feste from Twelfth Night, Dogberry and Verges from Much Ado About Nothing and Hippolyta from A Midsummer Night’s Dream on the King’s Manor green tomorrow (Saturday) from 11am to 3pm. Each shed accommodates five spectators; each intimate interaction lasts for approximately ten to 15 minutes with four slots per hour available for Hippolyta and Feste and three for D & V.

“Shedspeare has been very much devised by the company; working for half a term on the plays; working out which characters they would choose; thinking about where we might find them when they’re not seen in their play,” says Julian.

“Each character will have a reason for being in a shed, and the audience will sometimes be part of the decision-making process for each of them. Feste, for example, has been away for 12 weeks from Olivia’s household, but he never gives a reason. Is he fed up with being the Fool; is he fed up with his situation? So you see him in an abandoned shed, that he's made his own with bits of old instruments and empty bottles, deciding should I go back or not?”

The Youth Theatre members wanted a comedy pairing as the occupants of one shed and settled on Dogberry and Verges from multiple choices. "We've chosen the point in Much Ado where Dogberry and Verges have to interrogate Conrad and Borachio, so we put them in the shed before they must do the interrogation," says Julian. "Up to now, life has been pretty peaceful for them and they've never had interrogate anyone, so they're in Dogberry's shed with a mattress and pillows and pictures on the walls, thinking about how they'll go about their questioning and asking their audience for suggestions."

Hippolyta appears in only three scenes in 'Midsummer', and in the casting the role is normally doubled up with Titania. "Off the page she's this subservient character, defeated by Theseus and forced into an arranged marriage, so she has no choice in the short term but to marry, but in the long term, she can plot to regain her former status," says Julian.

"In our play, she's in a shed getting ready for the wedding, ten minutes before the ceremony, doing her make-up and her hair and asking for 'something borrowed'. We're hearing her internal thoughts, directing them to the audience, telling them what she'll be doing, taking them through her thought process of what she faces, so she's not seeking any advice from her audience, whereas with Dogberry and Verges, they're part of the process."

Why is Hippolyta in a shed, Julian? "She's rebelling against convention by getting ready for her wedding in the most grotty place she can find, so it won't be dressed at all except for a table, chair and mirror because she doesn't have any possessions," he says.

Julian can foresee repeating this format with other characters from other Shakespeare plays. "This idea is easily transferable elsewhere and sits well in a festival context," he says. "It's a really rich idea because it's interested in the 'under-characters', who've been given their own story, and we can tell plenty more."

• Admission to Shedspeare is free; sign up on the day at the festival box office.