The Merry Wives of Windsor: William Shakespeare RSC, Stratford Upon Avon, runs until 07/09/24. 5✩✩✩✩✩ Review: Rod Dungate.
The Merry Wives of Windsor: William Shakespeare
RSC RST, Stratford Upon Avon
Runs until 07/09/24
Review of AD Performance: 22 June 2024
Rod 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