The Merry Wives of Windsor (Peterborough)

It doesn't count as one of Shakespeare's "problem" plays, but The Merry Wives of Windsor is not the easiest work in the canon to stage.

Amanda Knott's new production for the enterprising Creative Cow touring company uses only six actors within a minimalist setting, the border of which suggests both a maze and a jigsaw puzzle.

Who's playing who is a matter of quick-change headgear, bodices and doublets; breeches are dark plush and kirtles sparkling white. The Fords favour deep pink while the Page family goes in blue.

There are stools and a sturdy table as well as that vital laundry basket; Christopher Hill's lighting turns the laundry lines which enfold the acting area into a twinkling green maypole for the final scene.

This all places quite a burden on the actors. Jack Holland is good as Falstaff, very much de haut en bas, which is just as he should be; there's a touch of the same social attitude in Séan Aydon's Fenton.

Aydon also plays fellow-suitor Simple, Nym and young go-between Robin. Jack Wharrier comes into his own as Ford's jealousy builds but sketches in Dr Cauis and Anne Page's fourth suitor Slender. Jonathan Parish is the voice of reason as Page and the rather more unruly Pistol.

Maia Gibbons has an interesting double as Mistress Ford and Anne Page with Katherine Senior all of a bustle as Mistress Quickly and more subdued as Mistress Page.

The stylised production is punctuated by 19th century ballet music of the country-revel type one associates with Hérold's score for "La fille mal gardée". It's all fun to watch, but some of the speaking needs to be clearer if the audience is to follow the intricate plotting from the first exchanges.