"Even the most hardcore Bardolator" would concede that "The Merry Wives of Windsor" is not one of Shakespeare's better works, said Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out. It's a daft, flawed, and "canonically illogical" spin-off from the Henry IV plays that gives the beloved character of Sir John Falstaff a brand new comic adventure – wooing the wealthy wives of Windsor in the hope of making some money.
The play lacks the "pathos and grit of his original appearances", and sidesteps the fact that Falstaff died 200 years before the manifestly "present-day" action. Rather than try and "fix" any of this, Sean Holmes' entertaining new staging leans strongly into the daftness, with a "relentless barrage of absurdist line deliveries and outlandish character interpretations". It's "pathologically silly", but so long as you're not expecting too much, "you'll have fun".
You certainly will, said Nick Curtis in London's The Standard. A crack cast of comic actors makes this production a "treat". Falstaff is played by George Fouracres, a Black Country comedian-turned-actor who has "brought revelatory zest to several Shakespearean clowns at the Globe in recent years".
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He's terrific, working the audience with wit and charm. Katherine Pearce's saucy Mistress Ford and Emma Pallant's beady Mistress Page have the "fine timing and physical ease of a practised double-act as they dupe and then punish Falstaff for his impudence". Sophie Russell as pragmatic fixer Mistress Quickly and Samuel Creasey as the effete Welsh priest, Hugh Evans, also win big laughs.
It makes for a "jolly" evening, said Clive Davis in The Times. I found myself wishing I was in the pit with the "groundlings", to soak up the atmosphere.
It's all "entertainingly" done, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. But overall, this theatrical cake fails to rise. Fouracres is a far younger and more sprightly Falstaff than the "plus-sized buffoon" that the plot and jokes require.
And he "doesn't fully dominate proceedings as you'd hope; the supporting cast often garner the belly-laughs". This is an enjoyable show that's "suitable for tourists", but it "falls short of being a summer sensation for all".
Globe Theatre, London SE1. Until 20 September
