The Merry Wives of Windsor (tour – Norwich)

It’s a well-travelled show. The Christopher Luscombe production of The Merry Wives of Windsor for Shakespeare’s Globe, that is. It’s the first-full-scale production from the theatre to go on tour – you may have caught A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Comedy of Errors in their outdoor booth format somewhere in the region either last year or this summer. But this is an altogether bigger affair.

Janet Bird’s set in a wondrously complex thing of double revolves with a sort of Tudor dolls’ house plopped dead centre. The musicians, led by William Lyons and with a fascinating array of contemporary instruments, perch atop this, punctuating the action and providing sound effects. Beneath them, in formal gardens and open spaces as well as a variety of interiors, gambol the characters of the comedy.