
When imagining typical a Shakespeare performance, you might be tempted to think of an all-male cast performing in elaborate head-to-toe costumes complete with neck ruffs and capes.

So you might be surprised to find that this troupe of nude women in New York's Central Park are performing The Bard's Tempest as part of the city's season of outdoor theater.

The cast members, who are part of The Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society, decided to put on the show to highlight the restrictions that civilization puts on people's bodies.

While Prospero and Miranda, who have been exiled on a Caribbean Island for 12 years, start the show fully nude the more civilized characters who are washed ashore start out wearing costumes before discarding them as the show goes on.

Producer Charles Ardai told Metro US: 'Part of his appeal is that Shakespeare is unimpeachably artistic. Nobody who hears you’re performing Shakespeare could possibly question that what you’re doing is in the service of art.'

While the Parks and Recreation department initially turned down the concept, they were eventually persuaded after the New York Civil Liberties Union weighed in, showing that such a performance would be legal.

Toplessness, which the group typically indulge in while reading in the park, is legal everywhere in New York - and while full nudity is usually prohibited, it is allowed in the name of art.

Members of New York's Outdoor Co-ed Topless Pulp Fiction Appreciation Society put on the production in Central Park at Summit Rock

The all-female show was designed to highlight the restrictions placed upon people's bodies by society, according to the group

The characters of Prospero (left, played by Gina Marie Russell) and Miranda (right, played by Marisa Roper) start the show fully nude having been abandoned on a Caribbean Island for 12 years

Meanwhile the characters washed ashore from civilized society start the production clothed, then shed their outfits as the play goes on

In total the play involves 13 female performers who put on the show over two days in New York's Central Park

While toplessness is legal everywhere in New York, full nudity is typically prohibited unless it is in the name of art

Aside from Prospero and Miranda, Airel the fairy (pictured being played by Reanna Roane) and her nymphs are the only other characters who start the show nude

The Tempest is not the only Shakespeare play to be performed in Central Park featuring fully nudity, a performance of Henry V back in 2003 featuring Liev Schreiber also featured nudity

In contrast to traditional Shakespeare, where all of the parts were played by men, the group decided to have their cast be all-female

Kara Lynn (left) playing Ferdinand meets his future bride Miranda while still fully clothed towards the start of the production

However, as the play progresses Ferdinand eventually undresses just like Miranda, right, played by Marisa Roper

The production runs for two days in Central Park on May 19 and 20 and, in keeping with New York's outdoor theater tradition, is free to see