Opera: Falstaff from the 2009 Glyndebourne festival

Release date: 29 November 2009

Running time: 129 mins

Director: Vladimir Jurowski

Starring: Christopher Purves, Dina Kutznetsova

Verdi's final opera, Falstaff is a mercurial, nimble-footed and profusely tuneful portrait of Shakespeare's Fat Knight. The libretto combines three parts Merry Wives of Windsor to two parts Henry IV, with a sprinkling of fairy dust from A Midsummer Night's Dream. A witty farce, the opera follows Falstaff's attempted seduction of two local ladies who then exact their wiley revenge on him.

A strongly international cast is led by the exciting British baritone Christopher Purves in the larger-than-life role of the corpulent Falstaff, whose profligate presence both outrages and inspires the leaner, meaner citizens of Windsor.