VERDI'S career can be neatly summed up by the final fugue in his opera Falstaff, which is currently being performed at Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre.

With the whole of the London Opera Players' company joining in, Sir John Falstaff steps up at the end to tell us that All the World's a Stage.

In his last opera, Verdi finally rids himself of the traditional Italian style of set pieces, arias and ensembles - Falstaff is a fluid work in which the music flows freely and continuously.

And the London Opera Players make a wonderful job of the work - the opera, based on Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor has traditional English overtones.

This is increased by the company performing Falstaff in English, which seems slightly odd at first, especially with some very modern terms such as 'trollop' and 'skidaddle', but the audience soon warms to it and there are no problems in following the story.

Sir John Falstaff is a balding man of mature years and large proportions. He dreams of seducing two charming local women, Alice Ford and Meg Page.

His rather unsavoury sidekicks Bardolph and Pistol refuse to take his love letters to the ladies, claiming to be men of honour.

However, the letters are dispatched and the two young women soon discover they have identical proposals. Outraged, they hatch a plot to teach Falstaff a lesson and make him change his ways.

Meanwhile Alice's husband learns of Falstaff's attempts to seduce his wife and plans his own method of dealing with the intruder.

The plot leads to some very comic moments on the stage and Verdi's music contains, as always, some clever musical jokes.

In many ways, Falstaff is optimism personified, believing always that it is he who sets the running and, although he appears gullible, he shows the triumph of hope over reality.

In the adaptation, there is also scope for Verdi to show vistas of young love with Fenton (one of Master Ford's companions) and Nannetta (Mr and Mrs Ford's daughter), middle-aged marriage in crisis (the Fords) and the contradictions of Falstaff, the oldest swinger in town.

Meanwhile the classic deception and farce of Merry Wives is still there and Falstaff, in his lonelier moments, also appears as the rejected father-figure of the history plays, contemplating former glories during his lonelier moments and keeping up appearances when in company.

The performance of the London Opera Players cannot be faulted - excellent singing coupled with the music of one of opera's greatest masters is a winning combination.

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