"Heavens defend me from that Welsh fairy, lest he transform me to a piece of cheese!"

Now that is a line, and it is the pick of this play - the only time I laughed while reading. I expect I would find the whole funnier to watch, but just reading it is only mildly amusing. I confess I have been trying to read this for the past year, as part of my ongoing effort to get through all of Shakespeare's plays. Usually they do not take me so long, but the fact that this one starred Falstaff was putting me off. Yes, I know, he's beloved of the Shakespeare crowd and all that, but in the Henry plays I found him nothing but tedious, and the thought of an entire play dedicated to him did not appeal. As the introduction to this edition points out, however, this is in some ways a very different Falstaff (I call him alternate universe Falstaff) and he basically exists here to be made fun of, and I honestly found him more tolerable that way. The highlight of the play for me, though, was the central friendship between Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, their total disgust at this hopeless lecher trying to woo them both into handing over money, and their subsequent plots to get their own back on his exploitative arse.

In summary: not one of the greats, but I'd like to see it performed one day. I suspect it'd come across funnier that way. Especially if it were paired with a few glasses of wine...