The Merry Wives of Windsor: William Shakespeare

RSC RST, Stratford Upon Avon

Runs until 07 September 2024.

Review of AD Performance: 22 June 2024

Roderick Dungate.

5✩✩✩✩✩

“The play may creak a bit, but the production never ever does.”

Merry Wives of Windsor is set among the middle class in Windsor, so it lends itself extremely well to a contemporary setting. The characters are easy to identify with, a quality enhanced with a few up-to-date one-liners. It all helps the comedy roll merrily along.

Sir John Falstaff stands at the centre of the plot; in most ways he is an odious character, but theatrically he works because he makes us laugh. So we like him, while liking the awful things that happen to him. All this can only come to fruition, of course, if it is well performed (and it is a favoured part among leading actors). John Hodgkinson is superb; he never puts a foot wrong. He has created this clown-like character with the care he might create a Lear – might we one day get to see him do that? His carefully honed accent reminds us always he is a knight. He never misses a comedic beat, and though his comedy is sometimes broad, his character remains rooted in reality. Which is why it works.

Wherever you go in this cast, performances are strong. Particularly strong are Mistresses Ford and Page (Siubhan Harrison and Samantha Spiro) they appear to be having a whale of a time in their scenes together, and their humour is warmly infectious.

Shakespeare sets up too many characters in the play in order to make his ending work, and it is in this early period the longueurs appear, despite sterling work from the company.

A huge amount of business goes on in this often physical comedy, so the two audio describers (Emily Magdij and Annette Stocken) are put through their paces and come through with flying colours.

Blanche McIntyre directs the play with flair and invention, the result is a welcoming feel-good time in the theatre; a Merry Wives not to be missed.

Cast

Mistress Meg Page – Samantha Spiro

George Page – Wil Johnson

Anne Page – Tara Tijani

Mistress Alice Ford – Siubhan Harrison

Frank Ford – Richard Goulding

Sir Hugh Evans – Ian Hughes

Dr Caius – Jason Thorpe

Mistress Quickly – Shazia Nicholls

Rigby – David Mara

Fenton – John Leader

Robert/Student – Riess Fennell

John/Bardolf – David Partridge

Student – Yasemin Junqueira

Sir John Falstaff – John Hodgkinson

Robin – Tadeo Martinez

Pistol – Omar Bynon

Nym – Yasmin Ozdemir

Host – Emily Houghton

Shallow – John Dougal

Slender – Patrick Walshe McBride

Simple – Jessica Alade

Creatives

Director – Blanche McIntyre

Sets & Costumes – Robert Innes Hopkins

Lighting – Malcolm Rippeth

Composer – Tim Sutton

Sound – Emma Laxton

Audio Describers – Emily Magdij & Annette Stocken