Stage Dragon: The Merry Wives of Windsor – Guildford Shakespeare Company

Published on: 18 Jul, 2019
Updated on: 18 Jul, 2019

Mistress Page (Sarah Gobran) and Mistress Ford (Emma Fenney) traduce their would-be suitor. © Matt Pereira

By Alice Fowler

As the sun sets over Stoke Park, a mad-cap train careers into view. Out spills a company of actors in bell-bottom trousers and quilted dressing gowns – and the Guildford Shakespeare Company’s The Merry Wives of Windsor bursts to life.

This second outing in its 14th open-air season sees the GSC at its effervescent best. Energised by a new venue – the enchanting Stoke Park Railway – and a new cast member – Eagle Radio’s Peter Gordon – the cast pulls out all the stops in a sparkling and hilarious Seventies-inspired production.

Falstaff (Peter Gordon), dressed as Herne the Hunter, waits at the Great Oak. © Matt Pereira

Gordon, after many years honing his talents in the Yvonne Arnaud pantomime, seems born to play Falstaff, a larger than life buffoon whose affrontery in wooing two married women lies at the play’s heart. There is real chemistry between him and Rosalind Blessed as Mistress Quickly, the bawdy housekeeper who excels at stirring trouble.

A disguised Master Ford (James Burton) mocks Falstaff. © Matt Pereira

The Merry Wives has been described as the original sit-com. Director and adaptor Caroline Devlin embraces this, with a sound-track of Seventies theme tunes, from ‘Are You Being Served’ to ‘Play School’. The wives – joyously played by Sarah Gobran and Emma Fenney – wear floating nylon gowns, while Dr Caius (Alex Scott Fairley), ‘seller of peculiar herbs’, is a yoga-mad French hippy. If you have ever dreamt of seeing GSC co-founder Matt Pinches sporting skinny polo neck and sideburns, this is your chance.

As so often, Shakespeare’s ideas seem astonishingly modern. The ‘wives’ of the title, Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, have the confidence and wit to stand up to Falstaff’s unwanted attentions. Together they set out to humiliate him: achieving this most successfully, with the help of a laundry basket (here, a large bag) and a ‘rescue’ plan in which Falstaff ends up disguised as the Old Woman of Brentford.

The women take revenge on Falstaff – hidden in the laundry bag © Matt Pereira

Not all the scheming goes to plan, however, as the Pages’ daughter Anne (Francesca Baker) defies her parents’ wishes and marries for love – another radical concept in 16th century England.

Stoke Park Railway, home of the Guildford Model Engineering Society, proves a superb venue for the evening: delightfully eccentric and perfectly located to catch the last rays of the setting sun.

There are memorable moments aplenty, including a fight scene featuring a large leek (you have to be there) and shades of the Yvonne Arnaud panto as Peter Gordon is chased and walloped with a space hopper. All this is too good to miss: first class, laugh-out-loud amusement, right here on our door-step.

Brian Blessed OBE, attended the Press Night of Guildford Shakespeare Company’s 42nd show. Back row: Emma Fenney, Francesca Baker, Alex Scott Fairley, Caroline Devlin (director), Rosalind Blessed, Sarah Gobran (producer), Peter Gordon, Tom Richardson, James Burton. Front row: Indiana Lown Collins (assistant director), Matt Pinches (producer), Isaac Stanmore.

Continues until July 27. Box office 01483 304384; see guildford-shakespeare-company.co.uk

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