⭐⭐⭐
Three Inch Fools have everything you'd expect from a travelling Shakespearean troupe - accents a plenty, quick costume changes and a pared back style. Their set is charmingly rustic - wooden platforms and fairy lights capture the DIY aesthetic and the three-sided stage allow side-seated audience members a sneak peak at backstage.
The Fools are unpretentious and upfront but this also means they lack polish. In the opening act, the jokes don't always land and the comedic timing is a little off - something which can't entirely be blamed on a chilly audience, matching the less than balmy temperature. And for a troupe who sells themselves as a 'musical take on Shakespeare', there isn't actually much music for two and a half hours. There is however a lot of random percussive snippets but they're often at odds with the tone of the scene - experimental maybe, but a little off-putting. It's a shame, because when the Fools do join voices and are accompanied by instruments such as the violin and guitar, it's a genuine joy and sparks a palpable atmosphere.
The troupe stick religiously to Shakespeare's script meaning the cast have to work overtime to include every character in the Bard's convoluted main and sub plots. Their energy is admirable but with only 5 actors it's sometimes difficult to keep up - though this does make for some funny moments of hat swapping and skirt un-velcro-ing as the players chop and change characters. Edward Kaye's Essex wife steals the show with the accent alone, and he raises the biggest laughs. Hazel Monaghan provides a lot of comedy too with her bad-tempered French doctor, as do her and Isabella Haywood's merry wives offer warmth and giggles with their plotting to undo the 'fat knight' and his scheming. The infamous Falstaff, played as a toned-down Brian Blessed by Dom Blackwood in purple tailcoat, isn't particularly sympathetic but is pleasingly pompous. Blackwood also plays daughter Anne Page and this depiction is intentionally demure. The small portrayal however, perhaps misses a trick as a heavy-set, bearded man playing a shy maid should be a pantomime classic and enough to cause raucous laugher if played with enough camp. Blackwood's black converse trainers, the odd one out amongst the rest of the cast's brown boots, denote him as a newcomer, though the whole summer remains for him to fill the shoes. But there's the rub - the troupe never quite goes far enough in its slapstick nature nor its musical interludes and fundamentally never quite connects with the audience - a fatal flaw when they are just a metre away and very much visible in the daylight.
In peace-time (pre-pandemic) tradition, the Three Inch Fools normally steal food from the audience and members are propositioned to play a character or two - Covid restrictions make this impossible which is disappointing but there are other ways of connecting with the audience. We aren't really included in the jokes, apart from when the character of Fenton starts snogging another and we hear a character shout 'Jesus Christ, Fenton!', a reference to the 2011 viral video. It's a great moment, and more would have been possible if the performance were abridged to free up space for more jokes - as would have been done by the improvising players of 16th century tours. All in all, this production of The Merry Wives of Windsor provides a night of entertainment with energy, spirit and a merry atmosphere, shining brightest when the Fools put their musical philosophy front and centre. As this was an opening performance, the Three Inch Fools have plenty of time on their 105-show tour to perfect their craft: not show-ers but growers.
The Three Inch Fools tour the UK until 18th September with performances of The Merry Wives of Windsor as well as Romeo and Juliet and Robin Hood. Tickets: Upcoming Performances – Three Inch Fools.
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