TOM Straszewski first performed for the York Shakespeare Project in 2009 and has been an actor with the project ever since, culminating in his turn as Dogberry “bringing down the house” in Much Ado About Nothing last summer.

That show took place in Rowntree Park, prompting Tom to apply – successfully – for the director’s post for this summer’s production of The Merry Wives Of Windsor in the same setting.

Explaining his desire to direct Shakespeare’s 1597 comedy of farcical lovers, infidelity and jealousy, Tom says: “First of all was the chance to go back into the park, and second was the chance to direct for a group that has a very specialist aim to do all Shakespeare’s plays.

“The Merry Wives is a curious one because it’s the only one of Shakespeare’s comedies that’s set in his own time and in England, but it’s not one of the best known, so it’s quite an opportunity to so something that’s not regularly done.”

Written in 14 days, at the command of Queen Elizabeth I as a comic reprise for the larger-than-life character of Sir John Falstaff from Henry IV Pt I and II, Shakespeare’s comedy of cuckoldry, double-dealing and trickery involves the strait-laced town of Windsor being turned upside down when the roguish Falstaff tries to swindle and seduce the polite townsfolk. With him comes an invading carnival of outlandish characters.

“One of the big things I want to play on is The Merry Wives being the perfect play for this year as summer 2012 is all about celebration: we have the Diamond Jubilee, the Olympics and York’s own 800th anniversary and Mystery Plays,” says Tom.

“So that ties in with the idea of carnival, festival, people coming into two and turning it upside down for a year and then disappearing again!

“In The Merry Wives, people storm into this quite normal town and everyone then has the chance to consider their life and what they’re doing with themselves and their lives, while we as an audience think about how we treat people from outside.”

Tom notes how the “invasion” primarily involves soldiers, “but it’s not fought with swords but words”.

“There’s an undertow running through the play of occupation, with the wives forming a resistance movement to Falstaff, though we’ve been careful not to overplay that because it’s a comedy, but if anyone tipped over the edge, it would be a tragedy,” he says.

Tom is quick to reinforce the comic nature of the play. “The fat drunk bloke – in this case Falstaff – resonates down the ages and that’s why he’s funny – though it’s very telling that the title is The Merry Wives Of Windsor. The wives are the heroes; Falstaff is just the noisy one!”

• York Shakespeare Project’s The Merry Wives Of Windsor will run in Rowntree Park, York, from Friday to Sunday and May 30 to June 5 at 7.30pm with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2.30pm. Box office: 01904 623568, yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or on the door. If a performance is rained off, ticket holders will be refunded.