More news about ...		Review of The Merry Wives of Windsor in Paris by Roanne Insley
Roanne Insley has enjoyed the Paris tour a few times, both as a wine-quaffer in the audience, a reviewer and an occasional stage manager - laying cables in the undergrowth and trying to get grot out from under her fingernails afterwards. Once again to the Jardin Shakespeare in the Bois du Boulogne, Paris, for the Tower Theatre Company's annual adventure of performing Shakespeare in the most gorgeous of settings. The weather was kind and the Jardin looked at its most verdant and splendid. The scene was set with was some effervescent rock'n'roll pre-show music and all was well, as we settled down (with wine) to watch this year's performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor. While it's not one of Shakespeare's finest, even his less good plays have plenty to recommend them and the (fair-sized) audience were in anticipatory mood. I couldn't remember having seen the play before (certainly not recently) but I knew there was some action involving laundry baskets - and I wasn't disappointed. The play had been cut - not knowing the text, I can't comment on whether the cuts were a bit too ruthless - but the action moved along briskly, keeping the momentum going with no-one hanging around on stage for too long. There were some quality performances from an able and versatile cast. Jill Davy as Mistress Alice Ford had an excellent, no-nonsense approach with some lively, amusing scenes and occasionally diva-like moments. Helen McCormack as Mistress Margaret Page offered fabulous comedic facial expressions. In a neat piece of cross-gender casting, Sangita Modgil delivered a self-assured and chirpy Frank Ford and Sam Wright was a confident George Page, with excellent and beautifully articulated delivery of lines. John Chapman's Falstaff was well-characterized as a cheerful drunk (also giving us some fine "hangover acting"). Aimee Morris looked great as Anne Page and delivered her lines with aplomb, but later there was some confusion as to whether she was doubling in a different role or being Anne Page but in disguise. It was puzzling and could have been better handled. James Van Langenberg as Nym and also Fenton (one of Anne Page's suitors) gave a spirited performance, differentiating nicely between his two roles. Flavia Corina Di Saverio had three different parts to play, which did cause occasional confusion in the two secondary roles - though she was a very spirited Pistol (Falstaff's sidekick - her main character). She gave an energetic performance in all three parts, though, and kept up the pace well. Carlos Fain-Binda was endearingly gawky as Abraham Slender and gave a nice performance in his other cameo role as Robin - one of the many servants of the piece who are instrumental in driving the plot. Daniel Watson was a suitably cheerful vicar, but he wasn't always in "vicar clothes" which again made it confusing to follow - was he still the vicar, but in disguise, or another character altogether? Maddie Gordon as Mistress Quickly provided plenty of energy in her role as a wily go-between. She was occasionally a bit shouty, but this was in-keeping with the general not-so-subtle tone of the piece and the high energy delivery and amusing, slapstick approach. The consensus with our group, whose opinions I solicited, was that the individual performances were good - lively and energetic with plenty of terrific comedy moments. We also agreed that stage management (Michelle Roebuck and Richard Pedersen) had worked extremely hard behind the scenes to keep the pace up and the action whipping along - it's harder than it looks, you know. And who could not love the setting? On a warm summer evening there's simply nothing better than an open-air production where you can soak up some culture to a backdrop of foliage, blooms and the gentle chirruping of birds. Obviously, the reasonably priced French wine helps. We all thought there were a few things that were a bit less good. Much of the doubling up was confusing and difficult to follow. Even with the clear instructions in the programme, there was a good deal of head-scratching over at which point in the play characters were someone different or disguised as someone different or the same person but wearing different clothes. The costumes looked great - colourful and jolly but were not all in keeping with the 1950's theming, which jarred sometimes. I've already commented on the set and the lighting was mostly natural (of course). However, there was an oddity with the sound in the sequence where the plot to humiliate Falstaff is being revealed. I THINK the sound was supposed to be a kind of sinister tonal underscore to the action on stage, but it came across as the kind of warning noise you get before an alarm goes off. All of us were looking at each other wondering what had gone wrong. But, you know, it was a fun evening and we all had a great time chatting about the show afterwards. There was lots of energy and no "sag" or dull moments. Ciara Robley and the team really pulled it out of the bag in Paris and the local audiences had clearly been enjoying it enormously. Our Paris tour is such a marvelous fixture in the Tower calendar now - long may it continue! Photography by Laurence Tuerk
		This story first published in Noises Off on August 21st 2019