The Merry Wives of Windsor
From: Sunday, 8th June 2008
To: Sunday, 5 October 2008
Our Review: 
Your Reviews:
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Synopsis
Falstaff gets him come-uppance (three times) in this rather confused but at times immensely funny Shakespeare comedy - his only one about the middle classes. The story, almost certainly false, goes that Queen Elizabeth I so enjoyed the character of Falstaff that she asked to see him again in another play - in love. Shakespeare is supposed to have obliged with this delightful romp.
Our Review:
20 August 2010
Christopher Luscombe’s production of Shakespeare’s examination of the middle classes proved to be a big success at the Globe in 2008. It therefore makes perfect sense to revive the play, it fitting in perfectly with the theme of Kings and Rogues – Falstaff, of course, being the Platonic ideal of rogues.
So, it's interesting to see whether the revival, with broadly the same cast can achieve the same effect. Perhaps it's my imagination but the comedy seems much more obvious this time round. The programme has an article about how television sitcoms owe a debt to this play and Luscombe seems to want to hammer the point home at every stage in the production.
The music is used differently too. Nigel Hess's score has the same sort of function that Ronnie Hazlehurst used to have for countless BBC television comedies by providing a sort of jaunty commentary to events.
So, Falstaff doesn't need to see Ford (disguised as Brooke) ap...
Latest User Review
Job - 23 September 2010:
After Thea Sharrock's sublimely hilarious As You Like It last year, I was shocked at how poor this was. To evoke Basil Fawlty is to provoke comparison, and here the inadequacy on display was toe-curling. The play was flung at the audience, whereas last year's comedy drew us in and touched our hearts even as it attacked our collective funny bone. This unsubtle mess is wretched stuff by comparison and its manic atmosphere smacks of desperation. A second star only because I quite enjoyed the finale....
Cast
Christopher Benjamin (Falstaff)
Serena Evans (Mistress Page)
Sarah Woodward (Mistress Ford)
Sue Wallace (Mistress Quickly)
Creative
Shakespeare (Author)
Globe Theatre (Producer)
Christopher Luscombe (Director)
Janet Bird (Design)
Nigel Hess (Music)
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