FOLLOWING on from the fantastic success of their critically acclaimed 2011 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, this year the Wessex Actors’ Company are presenting The Merry Wives of Windsor.

They bring this rollicking show to Poundbury Farm House on Sunday for two performances, one at 1pm and one at 6pm.

Written for Queen Elizabeth I, The Merry Wives of Windsor is a hilarious tale following the antics of Sir John Falstaff and his attempts to woo Windsor’s women.

The company’s artistic director Jo Puttick said: “The show is a real romp and has been such good fun to put together.

“The rumour is that the original performers were called The Queen’s Players and Elizabeth I summoned Shakespeare and said she was having a celebration in Windsor in a fortnight and wanted him to write a new play for it.

“Not just that, but she wanted to have Falstaff in it because he was her favourite character and had already appeared in Henry IV parts I and II and in Henry V.”

Falstaff is played by John Billington, who Jo describes as ‘a brilliant actor’.

Jo added: “In the play, Falstaff has come back from the wars and has no money so is looking for a wealthy woman to seduce so he can get into her house where the money was kept.

“At that time there were no newspapers or television and a fifth of the population of London went to the theatre every week, so people would know Falstaff and understand what was happening.”

Tickets are £12 plus concessions in advance, £14 at the door and are available from wessex-actors-company.co.uk and by calling 07586 860798.