Sir John Falstaff’s notorious greed and lechery receive a comic tweaking when the portly knight attempts to seduce a pair of well-to-do country housewives.

The Merry Wives of Windsor was almost certainly required at short notice for a court occasion in 1597 and Shakespeare threw into it all the creative energy that was going into his Henry IV plays. Falstaff, Pistol, Mistress Quickly, and Justice Shallow all appear in this spirited and warm-hearted `citizen comedy' that combines boisterous action with situational irony and rich characterisation.