The rotund Sir John Falstaff fancies that both Mistress Ford and Mistress Page are enamored with him. Motivated by their husbands’ wealth as much as by their own allure, he sets out to court them simultaneously. However, the women are wise to the old rogue’s schemes and cleverly outwit him through a series of embarrassing encounters, nighttime frights, and a particularly soggy, foul-smelling laundry basket. Energetic, informal, and teeming with colorful characters, “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is a masterfully crafted farce and the sole comedy Shakespeare situated in his homeland. It serves as the precursor to English middle-class comedy, laying the groundwork for a tradition that extends to today’s TV sitcoms. The production playfully explored the connection between the life of Elizabethan England’s middle class and the late medieval era in which the play is set.