Yes, yes, I really do mean to get back into Shakespeare's history plays next week, this time with Henry VI, Part 1. But...all the time I was reading my way through Shakespeare's Henriad , and enjoying the antics of Sir John Falstaff, I couldn't help remembering how long it'd been since I'd read The Merry Wives of Windsor . Yes, I had read it, all those years ago while my brother and I were working our way through our massive Complete Works of Shakespeare , ticking off each play as we came to it. I remembered thinking it was hilarious, and thought that this might be the right time to revisit this purely comedic spin-off to what I'm affectionately calling the English-History Theatrical Universe. That's right, Sir John Falstaff was such a hit in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2 that Shakespeare decided to capitalise on him with a spin-off comedy. No civil strife, battle scenes, or doom-laden meditations on kingship here: The Merry Wives of Windsor is pure farce,...