The Merry Wives of Windsor

Director: Blanche McIntyre

Wednesday 12^th June 2024

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford Upon Avon

Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor occupies an interesting place in the canon. Often overlooked in favour of the more famous comedies, this text is arguably funnier, pacier and entertaining than many of the comedies which are performed more often. It reads like a farce, and the RSC have taken this vibe and presented something that is fresh, relevant and non-stop.

The basic premise of the story revolves around Sir John Falstaff. This is the Falstaff who also appears in the Henry IV, but in Merry Wives his character feels more relatable, perhaps due to the setting in a provincial town, in a story which feels like it could have come straight out of a 1970s sit-com. His contemporaries, Bardolph (David Partridge), Pistol (Omar Bynon) and Nym (Yasemin Ozdemir), who also have roles in Henry V, are given licence in Merry Wives to enjoy life and propel bits of the plot simply because they can. Fundamentally the overall feel of this play is exactly that – doing things because they’re fun.

Falstaff (John Hodginkson) has decided to woo two married woman and sends them identical letters declaring his love and intentions towards them. Mistress Page (Samantha Spiro) and Mistress Ford (Siubhan Harrison) find the whole idea simultaneously repulsive and hilarious and cook up a plan designed to catch him out and punish him. Mistress Ford’s husband, Frank Ford (Richard Goulding) is the jealous type, who becomes aware of Falstaff’s intentions towards his wife, although not her plans to thwart him. He disguises himself as one Mr Brook, taking Falstaff into his confidence and paying him to seduce Mistress Ford, then attempting (as himself) to catch her in an act of infidelity, that she has no intention of partaking in. This sets up a typically circular Shakespearean plot, where all of the characters know something (not everything) but the audience are in on all of the plans from the start. This convention allows the audience a freer entitlement to simple enjoyment, as we watch everything unfold and have the delight of knowing what’s coming before the characters do.

There is a side plotline involving Anne Page (Tara Tijani) the Page’s daughter, and a series of suitors, each of whom are favoured by different family members to be Anne’s husband, which ensures a full and rounded set of characters who find themselves gleefully swept up in other people’s dramas that they have no business being involved in. Dr Caius, a French dentist, and Slender (Patrick Walshe McBride) play the suitors, ably supported and encouraged by Mistress Quickly (Shazia Nicholls), Shallow (John Dougall) and Sir Hugh Evans (Ian Hughes) amongst others who spend much of their time stirring the pot.

The RSC have triumphed here in style, set, direction and casting. Hodgkinson is a fantastic Falstaff, playing the crowd, his contemporaries and the objects of his affections with ease, grandeur, swagger and impeccable comic timing. His continuous battle between wanting simple pleasures, and complicating that desire with his unhinged plans, ensures we dart between rooting for him, and shaking our heads in disbelief. Spiro and Harrison play the wives with such charm and naturalism, that it felt like you could go round with a bottle of wine and have a brilliant night in with the pair of them. Their relationship with each other and their husbands (who they eventually let in on their antics) is utterly believable, and there are moments where it is uncertain if they are fantastic actors or just laughing at the outrageous plot points themselves.

Every performance in this is spot-on – with a notable nod to Walsh McBride and Thorpe as Anne Page’s suitors, who interpret these characters with such freshness, it keeps the sub-plot relevant and alive.

The set (Robert Innes Hopkins) is modular and effective, working beautifully with the lighting  (Malcolm Rippeth) to give us a wonderfully relatable modern Windsor, and the live music composed by Tim Sutton, is – as always- vibrant and completely integral.

This script is a refreshing one, as it is comparatively simple in terms of plot, and, certainly with this production, seems to present entirely as entertainment, with nothing to think too deeply about. There is a moment near the end, where the punishment dished out to Falstaff tips from simple retaliation to an intimidation too far – much like the gulling of Malvolio in Twelfth Night, we find ourselves questioning whether or not we should have laughed quite so much at the cruel and (very) unusual punishments Falstaff is subject to.

There is a question with characters such as Falstaff, over the frequent use of language which attacks his physical appearance and whether this is appropriate when looking through a contemporary lens at these texts. In this production, his “portly belly” is referenced on several occasions, and whilst many of the other characters refer to his physicality, so too does he. This production has chosen to highlight the comedy to be found in these references, and it feels as though it would be difficult to ignore, so ingrained in the text are these jibes.

This is a really great night out, a really funny production and a fantastic interpretation of this text. I have rarely had so many laugh-out-loud moments during a 3-hour show, but the pace and the physical farce keep it quick and constant. If you want to watch a Shakespeare that is unashamedly simply funny for no other reason than that it is, then go and see this play!