Post-war Shakespeare

Rachel Kavanaugh's pleasant production brings Shakespeare's sprawling farce to the post-war suburbs. Falstaff's dilapidated depravity is set against recognisable middle-class mores, as he strives to have his way with Mistresses Ford and Page (twin-set and pearls, the both of them).

But the constrained atmosphere of bourgeois Britain helps rig the fight. Falstaff's saucy plans are repeatedly knocked for six, and no surprise - what hope does this legend in his own lunchtime have against the clipped consonants of Middle England?

With Richard Cordery slightly too cosy as this lip-smacking loser, the pressure is on Tom Mannion to stoke up the farce engines with his turn as the wife-suspecting, disguise-donning Master Ford. But demented paranoia too rarely comes to the surface of this bowler-hatted commuter.

There are performances to enjoy, particularly from Lucy Tregear and Claire Carrie as the wives and Adam Kay as the smilingly awkward Slender. Greg Hicks's Clouseau-like Dr Caius is funny but there's nothing else here to match his silliness.

It's diverting entertainment all the same, well spoken and with a gentle sense of fun. But its sense of place isn't fully formed, so there's not much tension, and not much farce. Dominic Maxwell

The Merry Wives Of Windsor