Theatre
Merry... but not quite merry enough
Published 08 January 2007
Simon Callow and his fat suit steal the show in the RSC's mediocre musical
As its grand festival of the canon draws to a close in Stratford-upon-Avon, the RSC has decided to do a Shakespeare-inspired musical in the main theatre. Avoiding the masterpieces of the genre such as Kiss Me Kate (The Taming of the Shrew), or West Side Story (Romeo and Juliet), the company has plumped for a musical version of one of Shakespeare's weakest comedies, The Merry Wives of Windsor. Rather than completely rewrite it, Gregory Doran, who also directs, has adapted it, keeping the original text but inserting songs, extra bits of plot and extraneous swear words.
Does it work? Reasonably, but largely because the cast is one of the most talented ensembles you will see hoofing it up on any stage this month. The other reason it is fun is that The Merry Wives is essentially a vehicle for one of Shakespeare's most glorious creations, that human mountain, the "monstrous fat" Sir John Falstaff, who is played with relish by Simon Callow (wearing the same fat suit as Bryn Terfel wore at Covent Garden for the title role of Verdi's Falstaff).
The moment Callow arrives in an ancient charabanc, like Toad, and promptly degloves Alexandra Gilbreath's Mistress Ford, exposing her hand and slobbering all over it, it is clear he has not abandoned the pantomimic mode he assumed last year as the baddie in Aladdin. There is not much subtlety going on with Callow (is there ever?) but then Sir John, who describes himself as being "like a sow that hath o'erwhelmed all her litter but one", is not a chiaroscuro sort of man. He is a giant who likes the sack, both to drink and as somewhere to roll with a woman, and Callow never lets the fat suit slip, even when disrobed and in a bath.
Stephen Brimson-Lewis has designed a deliciously Shakespeare-lite set. Half-timbered houses spin around to become haystacks when the countryside is called for. Everyone is in faux-medieval garb, but springs into a soft-shoe shuffle at the slightest flutter of a tabard.
Campery apart, the main problem is that the show must bear two rather cumbersome storylines, and linking them takes quite a lot of orchestration. Plot-wise, it's about as heavy as Falstaff himself. Sir John is trying to get off with the two Merry Wives, largely because they are married to rich men. Mistresses Page and Ford see through Sir John immediately but teasingly lead him on, largely to test their husbands' faith. George Page can see the joke, but Frank Ford (a wonderfully stage-struck Alistair McGowan) is rabid with jealousy and tries to trick his wife with a devious counter-plot.
Meanwhile, Mistress Page (Haydn Gwynne) has a delicious daughter whom she is trying to marry off to a French doctor (cue industrial quantities of frog, snail and Clouseau-type jokes). Mr Page wants her to marry a rich but dim country bumpkin. The daughter herself is in love with a bland hunk. All three hopefuls ply their suit via Mistress Quickly (Judi Dench), who, as those who have brushed up their Shakespeare will know, has form with Sir John. Adding to all this is an Oklahoma!-style hoedown, a tango sequence, a Wicker Man-style finale and the incarnation of various cultural totems such as Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean and a Mohican-sporting punk.
Musically, it's just as much of a mishmash. Paul Englishby and Ranjit Bolt have tunes and lyrics that are hummable, but not quite hummable enough; there's nice warbling from the Wives about the transparent fallibility of men and the endless forgiveness of smart women, but this is no Così fan tutte, however much it would like to be. Indeed, most of the successful comedy comes from the original playwright; Falstaff, described cattily (but wittily) at one point as "an argument for an eating ban", crying out "Let it rain potatoes!" is almost worth the ticket price alone.
It's funny, but for all the high kicks and riotous behaviour on stage, polite laughter rather than helpless peals of delight emanated from the auditorium.
For further info and booking details visit: www.rsc.org.uk
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