The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare’s Globe, London
- GutBer English
- Sep 9
- 3 min read
Like every summer, we make a special point of attending a performance at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on the south bank of the Thames and happily enduring the three hours standing right up close to the stage, interacting directly with the show, just like in the days of the Bard of Stratford. All for the modest price of £5.
This year, after As You Like It in 2023 and Much Ado About Nothing in 2024 (ohhh, Much Ado, what a beautiful production!, it still resonates with us), we were able to attend The Merry Wives of Windsor, again, a comedy to cope with the summer heat.
The Globe's open-air stage is dressed in shades of green and yellow to welcome this screwball comedy, which, despite not being one of Shakespeare's most highly regarded plays, still has a special freshness. The plot summary video (see below) gives a glimpse into the plot: infidelity, jealousy, convenient marriages, and real-life romances, all seasoned with sly jokes, puns, and double entendres that draw laughter from the audience.
Fortunately, despite the complexity of the intertwining stories, and the fact that several actors play multiple characters, the costume design team took pity on us and grouped the families by colour: blue and green for the Fords, green and yellow for the Pages, and red for Falstaff and his comrades. They also included tricks to play with the complicity of the audience to go along with the farce, like obvios proscetics and clearly fake beards.
The performances are simply wonderful: the wives are exceptional, Falstaff manages to make us feel like a lovable ruffian whom we even feel sorry for at the end, the husbands excel in their roles, and the rest of the companions complete an ideal cast, well-matched, playful, and complicit, which delights the audience. Particularly deserving of praise are Samuel Creasey, who builds a hilarious Hugh Evans, and the young talents Danielle Phillips, who plays several characters with astuteness, comedy, and authenticity, and Adam Wadsworth, whom we saw last year in Much Ado, and who plays Anne Page's two unwanted suitors, each with their own disparate but deeply comical peculiarities. Again, in a cast where it is difficult to single out anyone in particular due to how well the whole ensemble and each individual performer work, it is difficult to single out anyone in particular, but Falstaff and Mistress Page are very worthy characters to whom George Fouracres and Emma Pallant do great justice with their work. Another wonderful evening at the spectacular Globe, where our spirits are lifted. We can only be incredibly grateful for these spectacular experiences that the Globe and its staff have provided us.
The Merry Wives of Windsor can be seen at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre until September 20, 2025, with tickets starting at £5. Guided tours and workshops for children based on the play are also available, as well as performances adapted for special needs.
We attended a performance of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor on Monday, August 18, at 7:30 p.m. at the Shakespeare Globe in London.
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