Well, that rascal hath good mettle in him
Posted on 27th September 2024
Rumour has it that Elizabeth I was so enamoured with the character of John Falstaff in Henry IV, she persuaded Shakespeare to bring him back to the stage. Given the play can be charitably described as one of his lesser works, it’s a wonder the Pantaloons decided to take it on, but the choice turned out to be inspired. The silly contrivances and laboured plot devices of The Merry Wives of Windsor proved to be perfect raw material for the company’s irreverent approach to the bard, side stepping any purist objection to the mauling of a more substantial play.
Cheekily retitled The Merry Wives of Diss, the evening was peppered with local references, with Falstaff thrown in the Mere, after which he disguises himself as the witch of Dickleburgh. This was an effective device that not only offered up some easy laughs but also made the evening feel uniquely crafted. The actor’s ability to riff off the suggestion that the local pub, the Huge Cat, specialised in snorkelling, or Bev’s tip that thrusts should start at the knees, was inspired, winning genuine belly laughs from the audience.
The ensemble cast were uniformity excellent, with Alex Rivers’s uncanny ability to inhabit the grotesque Falstaff – imagine Rick Mayall in a fat suit – deserving of a special mention. William Ross-Fawcett had great fun playing with the one man joke of a Frenchman, a Scotsman and a Welsh man, while Jodie Micciche and Andrew Armfield as the eponymous, gender blind, wives glued the action together. All of them played a variety of other roles, and did so with astonishing chameleon dexterity, but what really bound the cast together was an infectious good humour. When a cast is obviously enjoying themselves this much it’s so much easier to chuckle along with them as the fourth wall is not just broken, it is entirely dismantled.