Falstaff

Act 1
Sir John Falstaff, a slightly shabby chevalier almost beyond his prime, has left the brothels of London and has ended up in a tavern in Windsor: In dire need of new fundraising tactics, dissimilar to those crude methods he has so far been practising with his cronies Bardolfo and Pistola, Falstaff has an idea: In the houses of decent townsfolk, it is the women who take care of the money. That way he could mix business with pleasure. But first, Falstaff has to dispose of those – not unjustified – allegations of theft Dr. Cajus is confronting his servants with. Then it is high time to contrive the hanky-panky, which means that two letters have to be delivered to Meg Page and Alice Ford. For reasons of honour, Bardolfo and Pistola refuse to do it. This sets Falstaff off – and he fires them. Instead, the innkeeper takes care of the delivery.

The two ladies meet, with them Miss Quickly, a factotum who knows every trick in the book, and Alice’s daughter Nannetta. It becomes obvious that the wording of the two letters is exactly the same; thus the women decide to take Falstaff for a ride. Bardolfo und Pistola try to get in on it as Master Ford’s informers, Alice’s husband; there is Cajus too, chosen by Ford to be his daughter Nannetta’s groom; and also Nannetta’s young admirer Fenton tries to score. A great confusion ensues and in the end, the men resolve to not only outsmart Falstaff - but Alice too. In the midst of all that, the two young people Fenton and Nannetta manage to sing about their love.

Act 2
The seemingly rueful Bardolfo and Pistola return to Falstaff. Miss Quickly tells Falstaff what he wants to hear: that both women are in love with him, that they keep this secret from each other and that Alice would have time for him between two and three o’clock. Shortly afterwards the disguised Ford appears, who, under the name of Fontana and by making use of a big bottle of wine and lots of money, brings forward his somewhat absurd concern: He is unhappily in love with Alice, who keeps acting chaste. But if Falstaff seduced her and thus set a precedent, he maybe would have a chance with her too. Falstaff admits that this is about to happen anyway. An outburst of jealousy in tragic style by Fontana-Ford ensues.

The four women are preparing everything for Falstaff’s welcome. Meg is supposed to burst in and interrupt the rendezvous, so that Falstaff – allegedly evading the arrival of the jealous husband – would end up eventually in a clothes basket full of rejected laundry that is about to be disposed of into the Thames. Beyond that, the women have a second task: to prevent Ford’s plan to marry Nannetta to Cajus.