A riotous romp through one of Shakespeare’s best-known plays has got the 2024 OVO Roman Theatre Open Air Festival off to an hilarious start.

Director and OVO founder Adam Nichols, a self-confessed lover of The Merry Wives of Windsor, has adapted it into an ‘80s disport that combines Shakespeare’s words with modern allusions.

The result is a production more than fitting to start the festival and a hoot for the audience, several of whom are invited to take part.

It is not the first time OVO has put on the play – the most recent was as the country was coming out of Covid so audiences were down.

But if you saw it then go and see it again because it has a freshness and quality guaranteed to make it worth revisiting.

In this version, John Falstaff is the lead singer of a supergroup in financial difficulties that he has re-formed and is playing a comeback gig at a country estate.

Cue plenty of 80s music, ranging from heavy metal to pop medleys, all of which slot seamlessly into the plot which centres on Falstaff’s attempts to woo two women, Alice Ford and Meg Page.

The band members demonstrate dual talent as they take the roles of Shakespeare’s characters as well as playing and singing.

From the first moment a hesitant Slender comes on stage, fussed over by his mother, you know you’re in for a treat.

Prior to that burger van worker Stella Quickly had roamed the audience looking for willing volunteers to take part in the action.

So successful was she on Monday, the festival’s official launch night, that every appearance from said members of the audience was greeted with hilarity particularly the young man operating an old-style sliding credit card machine.

This is a production with so many highlights, it would be impossible to name them all but here are just a few – a running joke about Canada and the USA, Quickly’s attempts to swap his supposed female love for a male member of the band and the ‘vegan menu’ on the fast food van offering just ice and water.

This attention to detail pervades all OVO productions and is one of the reasons why their shows have become a must see both in St Albans and other parts of the county.

To single out one person in such a talented cast seems almost dishonourable but Savannah Beckford as Stella Quickly ties the whole production together brilliantly.

Her acting and ad-libbing – a version of 9 to 5 becomes 9 to 6 after an audience member admitted to working those hours – says it all.

And in the main roles Alexander McMorran as Falstaff, Emma Wright as Alice Ford and Anna MacLeod Franklin as Meg Page are all uniformly excellent.

The Roman Festival is celebrating 10 years this summer and runs until September 8. In a busy schedule are other productions by OVO as well as local and visiting companies.

The Merry Wives of Windsor can be seen at various dates until July 28 and further details about all the festival events can be found at www.ovo.org.uk.