This modest but deft play has often been underestimated by critics, though it has attracted many distinguished performers (Galleries 3.2.26-29). This may be because reviewers tend to see its use of Falstaff as trivialising a major Shakespearean creation, or because of the story that it was merely a command performance by Queen Elizabeth, who specified a play about "Falstaff in love" - perhaps for some Windsor Palace celebration of the Order of the Garter. Certainly, the play's allusions to the latter group are distracting and often successfully cut. However, as a realistic, largely prose comedy, the play works well, and the lively character of the wives is well presented, to the disadvantage of a wide range of male stereotypes, particularly the obsessively jealous Ford. Its value is confirmed by its inspiration of one of Verdi's most enticing operas: Falstaff. It is purely contemporary in style and can be updated readily and plausibly (Gallery 1.5; and two entries in the Video Gallery). Its use of folklore is also effective (Gallery 2.3.16, 10f.1.1-4). See the Edwardian characters evoked by the opening of our production in the Video Gallery. HMR

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adam, David, Merry Wives (Michael Bogdanov & Co., Ludlow Castle, 2002) at: www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/merrywives-rev.

Alexander, Peter, editor. The Merry Wives of Windsor. London: BBC, 1983.

Alvarez Faedo, Maria Jos , "The Merry Wives of Windsor in Spain." Shakespeare Yearbook 13 (2002): 360-74.

Anon., "Falstaffs Past and Present: The Merry Wives of Windsor and its Stage Record." N. Y. Times,  9/23/1894.

Catherine II or Catherine the Great,  A Pretty Basketful of Linen from The Dramatic Works of Catherine II  in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization , vol. 18. ed. Alfred Bates. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906. pp. 46-54.     

Clover, Brian, The Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC: Old Vic, London, 2003) at: www.curtainup.com/merrywives

Cordiner, Lynne Hemingway. "The Merry Wives of Windsor : Revisions and Adaptations." On-Stage Studies 17 (1994): 104-116.

Cotton, William T. "Comic Conflict in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor", Ewell, Barbara C.; McCay, Mary A., editors, Performance for a Lifetime: A Festschrift Honoring Dorothy Harrell Brown: Essays on Women, Religion, and the Renaissance, 181-94, New Orleans: Loyola University, 1997.

Crane, David, ed., The Merry Wives of Windsor, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Evans, Peter. "'To the oak, to the oak!' The Finale of The Merry Wives of Windsor", Theatre Notebook 40 (1986): 106-14.

Goddu, Jean O., The Merry Wives of Windsor (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre,'04) www.centerstage.net/theatre/articles/merrywivesofwindsor

Green, William. "Directorial Uses of Farce in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor", Maske und Kothurn 48, no. 1-4 (2002): 81-89.

Hayes, Elliott; Schonberg, Michal, editors. The Merry Wives of Windsor. Stratford, Ontario: CBC Enterprises, 1984.

Homan, Sidney, "The Merry Wives of Windsor in the People's Republic of China: A Director's Notebook." Homan, Sidney, editor, Shakespeare & the Triple Play,  Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press; London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1988, 116-37.

Johnson, Gerald D. The Merry Wives of Windsor , Q1: Provincial Touring and Adapted Texts’, Shakespeare Quarterly, 38 (1987), 154-65

Kolb, James J. "Working on a Globe Replica: Staging The Merry Wives of Windsor ." On-Stage Studies 16 (1993): 55-68.

Pearson, D'Orsay, The Merry Wives of Windsor (Garland Shakespeare Bibliographies), New York: Garland, 1999.

Roberts, Jeanne Addison, "The Merry Wives of Windsor as a Hallowe'en Play" Shakespeare Surve  25 (1972): 107-12.