An Interview with Barrie Rutter: Taking the Merry Wives out of Windsor
The Merry Wives is a Shakespearean comedy following Falstaff (played by Barrie Rutter OBE) in his quest to seduce two wealthy wives; they become aware of his intentions and exact an embarrassing plan against him. Shakespeare’s original play was set in Windsor, yet Rutter (being the lead actor and director) made the decision to move the play away from the southern, Elizabethan setting and into 1920s northern England. This move was “not a difficult piece of editing” for Barrie,