Imagine the Queen requesting Alan Bennett to write a comedy for the Christmas entertainment of the court at Balmoral.

You can't? No more can I. But once upon a time the monarchs of England were well-versed in the arts. Henry VIII had a passion for dancing, singing and composing music. His daughter, Elizabeth I, spoke several languages, wrote at least one very fine poem - Importune Me No More - and enjoyed plays.

Gloriana, as the be-jewelled heavily-made up Queen was known, especially enjoyed a piece performed by The Lord Chamberlain's Men, Henry IV part I, written between 1597-98 by one of the members of the company, William Shakespeare.

To the 18th Century writer John Dennis we owe the legend that the old Queen was so taken with the antics of the roistering rogue Sir John Falstaff that she desired to see the fat knight in love and commissioned Shakespeare to pen a holiday entertainment.

Dennis says The Merry Wives of Windsor took Shakespeare a fortnight and appeared at the end of 1599 or beginning of 1600. Elizabeth I would have been about 67 when she saw it.

This comedy, in which the witty women of Windsor lead the men by the nose, has remained in repertoire for 400 years. In the forthcoming production at Bradford's Priestley Centre for the Arts the action has been moved forward to the England of Elizabeth II.

Director Harvey Grossman has taken this decision because he believes there are parallels between the Elizabethan age and our own.

"At that time society was undergoing great change - new ideas, new art, new entertainments, wealth creation, colonialism, capitalism, foreign trade and, of course, battles, wars, death and disease.

"On the domestic front men lust after women with means (in more ways than one), women with middle-class status who have wealth, power and confidence. These men are put in their places and in doing so have to suffer put-down and humiliation.

"In today's Elizabethan era much seems the same. Here too we have a rise of middle-class people, a most powerful social group. There is in this post-feminist time the emergence of woman-power and equality.

"However, sex is still on the agenda and men still make fools of themselves in search of carnal experience. And we have the European Union (and wars, battles etc.,) so apart from detail, what has changed?"

Quite a lot, actually. The notion of the divine right of monarchs and the attendant belief in the chain of being are no longer central to the nation-state. The devolution of political power would be as foreign to Elizabethans as membership of a European organisation containing both France and Spain. Finally, 400 years ago the common man had a keener appreciation of the power of super-charged language, judging by the speed and complexity of Shakespeare's word-play.

These fundamental differences between the two Elizabethan ages need not militate against dislocating The Merry Wives from the period of its creation; for it is not a period piece. The essence of any Shakespeare play is not its social message but the art inherent in its devising.

Although "put-down and humiliation" are the invariably inflicted on the arrogant and conceited, Shakespeare's comedies always offer the perpetrators a way back to the society of their tormentors and the greater moral world of inclusion and acceptance.

Merry Wives runs for six performances from April 4 to April 8, starting at 7.30pm, with a 2.30pm matinee on the Saturday. Tickets range from £4 to £6.20 depending on the performance. The ticket office number is Bradford 820666.

Jim Greenhalf

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