Anthony Quayle as Sir John Falstaff by Ronald Searle

Anthony Quayle portrayed Falstaff excellently in the classic BBC adaptations of 'King Henry IV parts 1 and 2' in 1979. But regretfully did not reprise the role four years later for their version of the 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'. In fact the only actor to span the three TV plays, and indeed 'King Henry V', was Gordon Gostelow as Bardolph.

My father was always an avid reader of Punch back when I was young and I would often flick though to look at the cartoons. I can remember many such sketches by Ronald Searle of the stars from either plays or films which accompanied their review.

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Quote #013

"You may know by my size, that I have a kind of alacrity in sinking"

Falstaff - 'The Merry Wives of Windsor', Act III, scene 5

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13 - The Merry Wives of Windsor

Among Shakespeare’s other innovations (such as inventing practically every other word or phrase in the English language) in 'The Merry Wives' he also becomes the first writer to create a ‘spin-off’ from a popular series! Here the mighty Sir John Falstaff gets to stretch his comic legs beyond the confines of the Histories among the ladies and gentlemen of Windsor. Author Jasper Fforde, in his Thursday Next series of books, describes Falstaff as a 'PageRunner'. PageRunner being -

"Name given to any character who is out of his or her book and moves through the back-story (or more rarely the plot) of another book. They may be lost,
vacationing, part of the Character Exchange Programme or criminals, intent on mischief." - Lost in a Good Book

Dr Fassbender - "Who is?"

This play is pure farce in the best sense of the word. Full of jealous husbands and hiding in closets (Dr Fassbender would be in heaven!). There are also so many asides to the audience and couples moving out of ear shot that I can see the play performed on a revolving stage. Possibly with Herne’s Oak right at the centre!

Or another comparison for the play would be with a good old-fashioned British sit-com - probably with David Croft as co-writer! All the elements are there; suburban setting, extra-marital affairs, young lovers defying their parents and stereotypical ‘Non-English’ characters with outrageous accents! Take this excahnge for example between Evans the Welsh parson and Caius the French doctor –

Evans: If there is one, I shall make two in the company.
Caius: If there be one or two, I shall make-a the turd.

Maybe not 100% PC but good fun none the less!

Finally – Shakespeare's contemporaries also tried spin-offs but unsuccessfully with such titles as;

Webster’s ‘Son of The Duchess Investigates’ or

Jonson’s ‘Everywoman Has Some Humour Too’ or
Marlow’s ‘Mephistopheles: Adventures in the Fourth Dimension’!

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