Where: Various venues, including Woodchester Mansion 

When: Until August 29, 2017

One of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies is being performed on home turf by renowned Gloucestershire open-air theatre company The Festival Players.

The Stonehouse-based theatre company has been touring professional outdoor Shakespeare productions for over 30 years and this year is taking The Merry Wives of Windsor across the UK and into Europe until the end of August.

The players will perform 75 shows over the summer across England, Scotland, Wales and the Isles of Scilly and as far afield as Belgium, Berlin, the Netherlands and Norway.

The Merry Wives of Windsor has tour dates at Himbleton Parish Hall, near Droitwich on June 30, Worcester Cathedral on July 25 and 26, Hall's Croft, Stratford-upon-Avon on August 20 and Woodchester Mansion in Nympsfield on August 24. 

Presented in full costume, the all-male company brings the fun of the most farcical of all of Shakespeare's plays, bustling with colourful characters and full of intrigues and physical gags, in a crystal-clear and fast-paced two-hour production.

The story centres on Falstaff, the 'Fat Knight' who also appears in Henry IV as drinking buddy of young Prince Henry. Down on his luck and staying in Windsor, the roguish and foolish Falstaff plans to seduce not one, but two married women so he can get his hands on their husbands' money.

However, the wiley wives of Windsor prove more than a match for him in this hilarious comedy.

Festival Players Artistic Director Michael Dyer says: "Our shows are an amalgam of energy, entertainment and colour and we aim to make them clear and transparent, as well as keeping them short for the comfort of our patrons.

"We set out to take audiences of all ages on a journey and make them feel very much part of the production."

A small cast of six play multiple roles demanding quick costume changes, as well as performing as singers and musicians. The show is being directed by Worcestershire-based Dyer, former director of Cornwall's Minack Open Air Theatre. It is his 13th all-male production in a row for the Players.

"It is of course totally authentic - we are following in the footsteps of Shakespeare's own Globe Theatre when all roles were taken by men," he explains.

Stratford-based actor Mark Spriggs is returning to the company this summer. In last year's tour of Hamlet he played Claudius and in 2015 he was a memorable Falstaff in Henry IV. 

Newcomers to the company this year are William Ross-Fawcett, Samuel Griffiths, Stephen Horncastle, Connor Reed and Paul Valentine.

Music has been specially written for The Merry Wives of Windsor by Gloucestershire-based folk star Johnny Coppin, front man of the cult Seventies folk-rock group Decameron. 

Tickets for the Woodchester Mansion performance cost £15. To book, call 01453 861541. Gates open from 5.30pm for picnics and the show starts at 6.30pm. 

For more details, visit www.thefestivalplayers.co.uk/tour