Merrily We Run Around

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, Thursday 13^th June 2024

Unusual among Shakespeare’s plays, this comedy does not concern itself with the ruling class.  The characters are ‘ordinary’ albeit middle-class figures, by and large, with only the knighted John Falstaff representing the upper echelons – and he is lampooned and ill-treated with aplomb.  Is Shakespeare commenting on the rise of the self-made, and the tottering of the ancient regime?  Possibly, but probably not.

I prefer to see the play as an antidote to The Taming of the Shrew, a play that always gets the hackles up, with its perceived treatment of women.  Here though, it is the women who have the upper hand in all things.  The men, for all their scheming, come off second best.  But I believe the piece goes beyond tit-for-tat sexual politics.

There is a rule of comedy that there are two types of people: those who seek to enjoy life and those who seek to prevent them, the latter being ripe for fooling.

Blanche McIntyre’s production is not short on laughs.  Along with the physical business she has her cast go through, the performances bring out the humour of one of Shakespeare’s funniest scripts.  There are some zingers here, and it’s a shame not all of the performers have the timing or the inflection to capitalise on them.  For example, Pistol’s line, “Then did sun on dunghill shine,” is what the kids would call a ‘sick burn’, but Omar Bynon throws it away.  Some of the cast are too naturalistic to manage the heightened delivery that comedy requires.

Thankfully, the main players are in top form.  John Hodgkinson’s Falstaff begins as a blue-suited Tory-like figure, the material straining against the belly born of his indulgences.  He is rapidly mocked and besmirched, his suit covered in filth, before his humiliation in disguise as a ‘fat woman’ and roundly beaten and pinched – all because he is driven by his appetites.  Hodgkinson achieves god tier by downing two pints of beer in quick succession.  This is theatre!

As the merry wives, Samantha Spiro (Mistress Page) and Siubhan Harrison (Mistress Ford) are tremendous fun, as they plot to humiliate Falstaff at every turn.  This is quite the double act; their enjoyment is infectious, and their scenes together are definite highlights.  We get a real sense of their friendship.

The men, on the other hand, are a bunch of idiots.  Patrick Walshe McBride is an absolute hoot as the socially inept Slender, using his height to, well, heighten the physical comedy, while delivering the lines with exquisite timing.  A joy in every scene he plays.  Ian Hughes’s Welsh clergyman is a pompous, language mangling twit, a knicker-nicking vicar.  Jason Thorpe’s Doctor Caius is French, in the Inspector Clouseau/’Allo ‘Allo vein, leading to some hilarious linguistic fun.  We don’t take Frank Ford’s (Richard Goulding) anguish seriously: we know his rampant jealousy is unfounded, but later, his repentance comes across as sincere.  Men can be mended, the play seems to say.

Tara Tijani is sweet and lively as Ann Page, the target of unsuitable suitors, while John Leader warms into his role as a rather nerdy Fenton, her chosen one.  Shazia Nicholls is splendid as go-between Mistress Quickly and there is strong support from Emily Houghton, sporting a blue Mohawk as the Host of the Garter.  Of the lesser roles, Jessica Alade and Tadeo Martinez stand out as servants to Slender and Sir John respectively, with Martinez being especially effective in a largely wordless part.

The contemporary setting of mock-Tudor detached houses and beer gardens gives the production an old-fashioned sit-com feel.  Much of British humour can be traced back to this anomaly among Shakespeare’s comedies.  You can easily imagine Terry and June rocking up onto set and fitting right in.

The action goes beyond a battle of the sexes.  Those who seek to curb the enjoyment of others must be mocked and thwarted.  And so, even the merry wives, who each prefer a different unsuitable suitor for young Ann, must be foiled and made to see reason.

There is much to enjoy and to savour in this hilarious production.  After a patchy first half, the second half in particular is eye-wateringly, relentlessly funny, with everyone going at full pelt.

The show presents us with a version of England that has only existed in stage farces and TV sitcoms, where you can make fun of foreigners with impunity, where gender roles are clearly defined and transgressors of these are to be mocked.  The diversity of the performers suggests that that kind of world is out-of-date and not to be desired.  This version of Windsor is a fantasy land and not a design for life!

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Belly laughs! Samantha Spiro and John Hodgkinson (Photo: Manuel Harlan)