Daring actresses have acted out a n*de version of a popular Shakespearean play in a public place for viewers' pleasure.

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.