The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Merry Wives of Windsor

by William Shakespeare

There is a story that Shakespeare wrote The Merry Wives of Windsor on a royal command from Queen Elizabeth I for a play showing Sir John Falstaff ‘in love’.  

Likeable rogue Falstaff was – and remains – one of Shakespeare’s best loved characters, embodying a British affection for one always out to pull a fast one to better himself, but who never quite succeeds (Del Boy or Blackadder anyone?).  But here Falstaff is pitched in his scheming against Mistresses Ford and Page; the eponymous ‘merry wives’, in whom Good Sir John may just have bitten off more than he can chew.

This fast-paced, battle-of-the-sexes, comedy provides a welcome return of the ‘Bard of Avon’ to the main Playhouse stage, providing plots and sub-plots with greed, romance and wit aplenty - but as someone once asked; ‘what’s love got to do with it?’.

“Now, good Sir John, how like you Windsor wives?”

Directed by Dick Hebbert

Wharfeside Theatre