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Partial Synopsis (teaser)
Justice Shallow, Master Slender, and Sir Hugh Evans are discussing the bad behaviour of Sir John Falstaff whose minions have alleviated Master Slender of his purse. The topic moves on to the Mistress Anne Page, who has been left a handsome inheritance by her grandfather and whom Evans suggests would be a good choice for Slender to marry. Slender is indifferent to her but agrees at the thought of her dowry. The group arrive at the Page's household and enter to dine, except Page who drifts around outside until Anne comes out and cajoles him in as the food is waiting.
Nearby, at Garter Inn, Falstaff reveals his plan to seduce Mistresses Page and Ford to his servants Nym and Pistol. Both ladies have rich and indulgent husbands and Falstaff believes that through them he can gain access to their husbands coffers. He drafts identical love letters to the two ladies, but Pistol and Nim, who have grown angry at Falstaff, refuse to deliver them. He sends them by a young errand boy instead, but Pistol and Nim betray their master by telling the Masters Page and Ford of his dvious intentions. Page dismisses it, but Ford, who is ruled by jealousy, determines to test his wife's fidelity.
Elsewhere, Evans has sent his servant to talk to Mistress Quickly to enlist her support for Slender's suit of Anne. Her employer, Doctor Caius appears and, hearing of the purpose of the visit, flies into a rage since he too has plans to marry Anne. Enraged at Evans for encouraging Slender, he sends him a letter challenging him to a duel.
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Meanwhile, the young Fenton, who truly loves Anne and she him, is dismissed by Page who does not find him a fitting match for his daughter for his daughter and instead supports Slender's suit, whilst Mistress Page supports that of doctor Caius.
Mistress Ford then arrives at the Page's house to show Mistress Page the letter she has now received from Falstaff, and Mistress Page reveals to her it's twin. The two women are outraged not only that Falstaff should attempt to seduce them but that he would have the gall to send them identical letters. They hatch a plot to punish him by encouraging his advances only to dash them at the last moment.
And so the scene is set for a comedy of deceit and machination as the two women lure Falstaff into compromising situations, Ford attempts to catch his wife in infidelity, and the Pages plot to marry their daughter to different suitors.
The Merry Wives of Windsor is unquestionably Shakespeare’s most immediately funny comedy. It is also the only Shakespeare comedy to have been set in England, and to see it performed in a lifelike replica of Shakespeare's own theatre was a rare privilege indeed. The Globe is a circular building with a hollow center, donut-like, containing an open central courtyard. A roofed stage occupies one part of the building stretching out into the courtyard. Audience space then consists of standing room in the courtyard and bench seating on three levels in the remaining arc of the building.
Prior to the opening of the play, a small groupd of Elizabethan style minstrels play music on period instruments to get the crowd in the mood before retiring to a gallery above the stage from where they provide occasional musical accompaniment to the play. Completing the Elizabethan feel, the play was conducted throughout in realistic period costume.
It was clear from the start that this exuberant production was to be very much played for laughs, with director Christopher Luscombe seemingly taking his cue from recognition of the fact that this play was in many ways the forerunner of the Whitehall Farce. With saucy jokes, mistaken identities, characters acting at cross purposes, and of course the frantically suspicious husband. All the basic elements are there, and Luscombe certainly makes the most of them incorporating plenty of visual gags and an outrageously stereotypical French accent for Doctor Caius.
Any performance of 'Merry Wives', of course, largely stands or falls on the quality of it's Falstaff, and in Christopher Benjamin this production has one of the best. A good Falstaff should not be too abhorrent, devoid of all saving graces. Rather, he should be a conceited, lecherous but otherwise affable old rogue, and Benjamin fits that bill perfectly. With his extravagant clothing and huge belly, he is the epitomy of the lovable rascal and the audience instantly warms to him because of his jocular panache and unquenchable spirit despite repeated humiliations.
Serena Evans (Mistress Page) and Sarah Woodward (Mistress Ford) are fully convincing as the old friends gleefully plotting to turn the tables and teach the old rogue a lesson he will never forget. Their mutual delight and barely suppressed hysterics as they work together to dupe the old rogue and run him ragged are infectious and a particular joy to watch.
As the ever-jealous husband, Andrew Havill takes his lead directly from John Cleese, a la Basil Fawlty, with his mad physical jerks whenever frustration overwhelms him. All in all a fresh and invigorating production - the best Shakespearean work I have seen in years at he most delightul of venues.
A warm, funny and cleverly constructed production. Shakespeare at its best.