RSC The Merry Wives of Windsor review - Shakespeare's sitcom staged with energy and depth in Stratford

​Shakespeare’s suburban fantasy is a triumph of comic writing. Often overshadowed by his more famous comedies, this one is funnier, faster, more up to date than most. It is a sitcom written long before sitcoms were invented. And in The Royal Shakespeare Company’s new version there is a perfect match of production and play.

​The plot revolves around the rise and fall of Jack Falstaff’s ambitions to woo not one but two women. A character much larger than life, he is played by John Hodgkinson, an actor also larger than life, who has the power to swallow the stage whole, and yet can command it with a single raised eyebrow. This is not the Falstaff of the Henries fame, but another, a doppelganger, like his twin much given to boozing and eating and most of all to wenching, but on a smaller, suburban scale. Vulgar he is, but also endearing in his naivete. He has his tragic side too, which comes about in his inevitable downfall. Yet even here he claims a certain win-some-you-lose-some dignity. He is a Falstaff to think about and remember.

The story is here set in modern-day Windsor. Somewhere in the background is a football match between England and Germany, but it’s not that football match. It allows for the inclusion of the scene in which Germans come in and take horses, a scene often cut. It is the most puzzling moment in the play’s twisty plot, and I'm not sure what good it did.

But that is to quibble. For though twisty, the plot is less so than many of Shakespeare’s comedies. Sir John, down on his luck, seeks to restore matters by seducing both Mistress Page (Samantha Spiro) and Mistress Ford (Siubhan Harrison), a risky strategy given that each is married to a husband unlikely to overlook his wife’s infidelities. Neither do they want to, as they are quite comfortable where they are. So, the two women contrive to fool their oversized lover by persuading him of their interest. There are sub-plots too, of course, in that Anne Page, their daughter (Tara Tijani) wishes to marry Fenton (John Leader) against to command of her parents, who each have more lucrative husbands in mind, notably the pompous French dentist Dr Caius (Jason Thorpe) and the idiotic but oh-so lovable Slender, hilariously played by Patrick Walshe McBride. There is much mirth to be had, too, at the hapless attempts of Frank Ford (Richard Goulding) to catch his wife out in an act she has no intention of committing.

That’s more or less all you need to know about the plots. What grabs the attention and holds it throughout is the spectacle of the thing. It is a farce, funny, and very physical, almost slapstick. Timing is down to the nanosecond, and the cast are completely at home in their roles. Even those with small parts to play are in no sense minor.

The Merry Wives of Windsor is a domestic comedy almost perfect in its construction. Blanche McIntyre’s direction gives it the energy and good order it needs, and though Falstaff and Ford etc are the objects of mirth, they rise above their absurdities and stand for something more.

Until September 7. Visit www.rsc.org.uk/the-merry-wives-of-windsor or call 01789 331111 to book.