THERE'S a chance to make merry in Winchester from Monday as one of the Bard's classic comedies The Merry Wives of Windsor is performed at the Chesil Theatre.

Eccentric double-dealers, young lovers and a night of magic in Windsor Great Park provide the backdrop for this Shakespeare play.

After comic knight Sir John Falstaff (Noel-Thorpe Tracey) meets Mistresses Page (Maria Head) and Ford (Jane Harding), two married women said to control their own financial affairs, he writes identical love letters to each of them, hoping to swindle some money from them.

He shares his plan with his comrades Bardolph (Phillip Simons), Pistol (Brian Woodruff) and Nym (Mike Slinn). But after Falstaff discharges the services of Pistol and Nym, they go off and inform the women's husbands of Falstaff's plot. Meanwhile the wives compare their letters and resolve to trick the 'greasy knight'.

"The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of the best loved of Shakespeare's comedies. It is no surprise that the play enjoyed such a long and successful stage run during Shakespeare's day and continues to be performed regularly today," said director Gerry Tuff.

This performance at Chesil also celebrates the theatrical ruby anniversary of husband and wife performers Tom and Vara Williams from Winchester who met when they were in a play together forty years ago. Vara who plays Mistress Quickly in this play, alongside her husband Tom as Sir Hugh Evans, said: "We originally met doing Shakespeare's Twelfth Night - I played Olivia and Tom played Orsino. These characters don't actually come together on stage until the final scene and oddly enough forty years on it is the same in The Merry Wives of Windsor."

Monday to June 7. Performance: at 7.45pm. Tickets £8 All Monday night tickets reduced. Box office: 01962 877977