[In the following review, Waites discusses Ian Judge's production of The Merry Wives of Windsor and offers high praise for Edward Petherbridge's portrayal of Ford. The critic finds that the production as a whole ran rather long, but was nonetheless “very jolly.”]

Written by Shakespeare on the behest of Queen Elizabeth, this play is set in the environs of Windsor Castle, utilizing local place names. The dramatis personae include strong-minded independent women, their flawed spouses, a shrill young man of dubious sexuality, a ludicrous Welsh priest and a comedy French doctor both of whom inflict grave damage on the English language, persistently mangling it at times into incomprehension, and of course, her favourite character of all, Sir John Falstaff. It seems that the Queen was so entranced by his character that she ordered the playwright to write her another play about the fat knight.

Will, being a dutiful kind of hack, penned a piece almost entirely in prose, with lots of entendres which are hardly deserving of the term double. Nevertheless, he could hardly disguise the fact that the character of Mr Ford engaged him far more than that of Falstaff. Ford is an archetypal jealous husband and a truly comic creation, a truth fully realised by the ever wonderful Edward Petherbridge who takes his opportunities in both hands and worries them between his teeth like an elegant terrier dog. His paroxysms of rage, when he discovers that the laundry basket contains not the fat knight but actual dirty washing, is a joy to behold as he writhes on the floor ripping and chewing the objects of his anger. It is a shame that he has to reform before the final scene, to make way for further emphasis on the fat knight.

As Sir John, Leslie Phillips, fruity-voiced and surprisingly stout, gives us an aging lounge lizard rather than a lecherous soldier. One feels this knight would sooner sip a martini than quaff a firkin of sack—although he does the latter with alacrity and frequency. The merry wives themselves, as portrayed by Susannah York and Joanna McCallum, are lively, attractive and amusing, even if their merriment sometimes appears a little forced, if not downright desperate! Christopher Luscombe as Slender, the dandy, and Guy Henry as Dr Caius are delightfully funny but Cherry Morris' Quickly and John Kane's Welshman only really come into their own as idiotic supernatural creatures in the final scene.

Tim Goodchild's settings are reminiscent of the New Globe, with timber frame, two staircases and a gallery running across from left to right. This, with changing drapes, serves as an all purpose set for the inside scenes—and the exteriors are dominated by a curious cutout of Windsor Castle, set on an improbable mountain unlike the gentle rise of the real thing. The costumes and props are in vaguely Tudor mode—ruffs abound! Ford wears a chalkstriped business suit, with trousers cut off at the knees as a gesture to the period. On the whole they work pretty well though I have to admit the presence of a yellow plastic duck in the bathing scene does somewhat jar the sensibilities.

Ian Judge has given us a slightly overlong but very jolly production in keeping with the pantomime season.