Merry Wives of Windsor (Northern Broadsides)

According to the history books, Queen Elizabeth persuaded Shakespeare to pen this sprightly Elizabethan comedy; she wanted to see Falstaff blinded by cupid’s arrow. But in Northern Broadsides’s no-frills version of this tale of lust, jealousy and deception, the only true romantic flame burns between the young Ann Page and her would be suitor Master Fenton.

Double-crosses, cunning ruses and disguises abound in a plot which concerns Sir John Falstaff’s illicit wooing of Mistresses Ford and Page, and the series of wily punishments they devise and execute to teach him a lesson.

A spin-off from this is Master Ford’s uncontrollable jealousy, which incites him to pass incognito as Master Brooke, who offers Falstaff an attractive pay-off in exchange for a rendezvous with his own wife. A comic sub-plot involving Ann Page and her three very different beaux is typically indicative of the period. As a woman she has little control over her future, although serendipity conquers in the end. Meanwhile, the older ladies are running rings around the men, who for the most part act as foils to their quick wit, save for the chicane Fenton.

Barrie Rutter‘s touring production flows at a cracking pace and has a contemporary edge – emphasised by the higher proportion of prose to verse – although it’s limited by a text that lacks the intricacy and characterisation of many of the Bard’s better known works.

Rutter’s Falstaff is a ridiculous buffoon, deluded by his own social status, and Rutter plays him well – the swaggering, heroic amour who could never entertain the thought that, in fact, women despise him. Mistresses Ford (Maggie Ollerenshaw) and Page (Joanna Swain) are like vixenish blood sisters united in their dual cause, although Mistress Ford is the principal engineer.

Elsewhere, Andrew Whitehead‘s French Doctor Caius exhibits some seriously heavy-handed irascibility, making you wonder how he makes it onto Ann Page’s future husband short-list. And, as swankpot Ford, Geoffrey Lesley gives a controlled, sleuthing performance that simmers on the brink of volcanic-like eruption.

My one moan with this Northern Broadsides’ production is that Shakespeare’s busy-body Mistress Quickly (Marie Louise O’Donnell) comes over as a confused old wench who’s more muddling than meddling. The result is plenty of jocularity but little jest.

Predictably methinks, a fair wind prevails in the end. The deserved are rewarded, whilst the foolish, the villainous and the simply misguided have no option but to stew in their own gravy. The strung-up Falstaff is the well-roasted, fat turkey!

– Emma Edgeley (reviewed at Stoke-on-Trent’s Regent Theatre)