Much Ado About Falstaff

Written by Simon Downing

GSP follow up recent successes with Old Herbaceous, Three Men in a Boat and What's Wrong with Benny Hill with a new play about Sir John Falstaff…a rogue, a philanderer and a glutton, but also one of Shakespeare’s greatest and enduring comic creations. 

In this new comedy by Simon Downing we find Falstaff, played by Giles Shenton (Old Herbaceous & Three Men in a Boat) in his bedroom in the Boars Head being nursed by Mistress Quickly.

The creditors arrive demanding payment. Will Falstaff resort to marrying Mistress Quickly in order to pay off his debts? Will he turn teetotal? Will he mellow in his old age? Find out the answers to all these important questions that Shakespeare never bothered to answer and join Falstaff and Mistress Quickly for an evening of jollity, frivolity, a definite lack of coequality and more Shakespearean insults than ever previously heard on a theatrical stage!

The play originally opened in Feb 2020 with most touring dates cancelled due to Covid......but Flastaff is now ready to be unleashed upon the masses once again!

Future performances

30 April 2025  Ilmington Village Hall, Ilmington, Warks

1 May 2025 Ilmington Village Hall, Ilmington, Warks

2 May 2025 Ilmington Village Hall, Ilmington, Warks

3 May 2025 Ilmington Village Hall, Ilmington, Warks

9 May 2025  Cotswold Playhouse, Stroud, Glos

16 May 2025  Southwold Arts Centre, Southwold, Suffolk

22 May 2025  Middlesbrough Theatre, Middlesbrough, North Yorks

29 May 2025  The Place, Bedford

12 June 2025  Corn Hall, Diss, Suffolk

21 June 2025  Burton Dassett Village Hall, Warks

26 June 2025  Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford, Staffs

27 June 2025  Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford, Staffs

28 June 2025  Stafford Gatehouse Theatre, Stafford, Staffs

25 July 2025  Barn Theatre, Oxted, Surrey

2 Aug 2025  Brixham Theatre, Brixham, Devon

     https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/brixham-theatre/much-ado-about-falstaff/e-qybbap

27 Sept 2025  Cygnet Theatre, Exeter, Devon

15 Nov 2025  Dorchester on Thames Village Hall, Oxon

21 Mar 2026  Players Theatre, Thame, Oxon

Past performances

21 Feb 2020 Phoenix Theatre, Bordon, Hants 

22 Feb 2020 Phoenix Theatre, Bordon, Hants 

25 Feb 2020 South Hill Park Arts Centre, Bracknell, Berks **SOLD OUT**

1 Mar 2020 Vera Fletcher Hall, Thames Ditton, Surrey CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

23 May 2020 Glastonbury Abbey, Glastonbury, Somerset  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

11 June 2020 Cryer Arts Centre, Carshalton, Surrey  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

12 June 2020 Brixham Theatre, Brixham, Devon  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

18 June 2020 Middlesbrough Theatre, Middlesbrough, N Yorks  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

2 July 2020 Moorland Garden Hotel, Yelverton, Devon  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

3 July 2020 Cotswold Playhouse, Stroud, Glos  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

4 July 2020 Miserden Estate, Gloucestershire

15 July 2020 Torch Theatre, Milford Haven, Wales  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

17 July 2020 Caerau Gardens, Bala, N Wales  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

26 July 2020 Sussex Prairie Gardens, Henfield, West Sussex  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

1 Aug 2020 RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate, Yorks  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

6 Aug 2020 Denmans Gardens, East Sussex  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

7 Aug 2020 Avon Mill, Kingsbridge, Devon  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

8 Aug 2020 Avon Mill, Kingsbridge, Devon  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

9 Aug 2020 Burrow Farm Gardens, nr Axminster, Devon CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

15 Aug 2020 Trebah Gardens Amphitheatre, Cornwall  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

22 Aug 2020 Leith Hill Place, Dorking, Surrey  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

30 Aug 2020 Wield & Downland Open Air Museum, Sussex

23 Sept 2020 Brighton Open Air Theatre, East Sussex 

15 Oct 2020 Manor Pavilion Theatre, Sidmouth, Devon  CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

16 Oct 2020 Cygnet Theatre, Exeter, Devon CANCELLED DUE TO COVID

 A chilly September evening is warmed and cheered by Much Ado About Falstaff, an extra chapter of an already roguish tale and a peek at the goings-on upstairs at The Boar’s Head, Eastcheap.

Unsurprisingly Falstaff is in trouble again, meeting hard times with his customary lack of responsibility and choosing instead to seek solace in ale and good company. Now, with creditors hammering at the door, he must rely upon the steadfast (if occasionally muddled) Mistress Quickly to save him from ruin.

Giles Shenton effortlessly embodies all that audiences have come to know and love of Sir John Falstaff. He commands the stage with epic, rousing speech peppered with asides that win the audience within the opening moments. Opposite him is Suzanna Walters, a fantastic Mistress Quickly. As frequently foul-mouthed and jocular as the knight himself she still yet manages to anchor him to reality and stop him wandering off into his own manufactured legacy.

There is a merry war betwixt the two that is waged throughout the show, showering the action with wit, smut and an entire arsenal of entendre. It is here that Simon Downing’s writing truly excels. His mastery of the language is indisputable and used to great effect, less an act of imitation and more a faithful homage to that bardic comic relief we look for in the comedies and long for in the tragedies. Quickly’s loose grasp of the English language often wrongfoots a Falstaff more accustomed to spilling forth a Trumpian spew of undigested thoughts and forming the crux of his arguments from the parts that sounded prettiest. Throughout the play there is no subject matter out of bounds and no level not to be stooped to – from friars to flatulence, soliloquies to sexual health and even the occasional jibe aimed at Shakespeare himself for good measure.

There are some more tender moments, particularly in the second half, and their scarcity renders them all the more poignant. A glimpse behind the mirth reveals a solemn figure reminiscing over days of long-gone glory and good times with old friends. Falstaff now languishes in his attempts to live up to his own legend, all the while his health is failing him. However, the sheer hope that Quickly manages to instil in both of them – of a new life and one more adventure now to be shared – is truly touching, especially with Quickly having so long watched her own aspirations pulled apart by the whims of those around her.

But for the most part, Much Ado About Falstaff is an evening of silliness that revels in its humour and wit, be it bardic wordplay or fart jokes. “More Shakespearean insults than ever previously heard on a theatrical stage” is undoubtedly correct and these often find themselves met with the sharp clap of a slapstick. This latest show is a dose of good, unclean fun that embodies the spirit of the Fat Knight himself. To be enjoyed by Shakespeare lovers and haters alike it is more than worthy of its place in the canon.

Brighton Open Air Theatre, Wednesday 23rd September 2020