‘The rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril.” As Sir John Falstaff rolls these words around his mouth, as if they were a beakerful of the sack he so much enjoys, we at once experience with him the foul aroma of the soiled linen that has accompanied him, borne in a basket, from the Windsor home of his would-be mistress Alice Ford into the River Thames.

For once, in this Shakespeare’s Globe production of Shakespeare’s gloriously comic romp, we do not actually witness the plunge. Curiously, this only serves to make funnier the description of it supplied by Falstaff. “By my size . . . I have a kind of alacrity in sinking” — the line brought the house down.

The Fat Knight is played by Christopher Benjamin, whose rubicund cheeks, noble nose and booming voice make him a natural for the role. The vast belly, one supposes, is not his own. First seen at the Globe two years ago, his portrayal follows his earlier, hugely acclaimed depiction of the nobler, more dignified Sir John of Henry IV.

In The Merry Wives he is, of course, a preposterous figure, convinced that his corpulent frame will prove to be eye-candy not only for Alice Ford (Sarah Woodward) but also for her friend Meg Page (Serena Evans). His comeuppance, three times delivered by the ladies, is a hoot to behold.

On the third occasion, when he is beset by ‘fairies’ at Herne’s oak in Windsor Park, the husbands are co-conspirators. In the case of Frank Ford (the excellent Andrew Havill) this follows a reconciliation with a wife over whose conduct he has previously entertained serious doubts. As ever, comic highlights of the play are the scenes in which as Alice’s would-be lover ‘Brook’ he hears reports of Falstaff’s success as a precursor to his seduction, with Havill supplying a neat study in suppressed fury.

There is more than a touch of Basil Fawlty, too, in his second encounter with the family linen basket. Convinced that it once more contains the knight, he pulls frantically at its contents in mounting anger at its lack of a human occupant.

In a neat comic touch supplied by the director, Christopher Luscombe, a pair of lady’s corsets is flung out, to be passed in turn among the horrified bystanders until they reach doltish young Slender (William Belchambers), who admiringly tries them for size. So that’s why his wooing of Anne Page (Ceri-Lyn Cissone) is getting nowhere — to the dismay of her father (Michael Garner) and the delight of her true suitor Fenton (Gerard McCarthy).

Other fine performances in this rollicking production include those of Sue Wallace as that garrulous go-between Mistress Quickly, Gareth Armstrong as the windbag Welsh parson Sir Hugh Evans and Philip Bird as the language-mangling ’Allo ’Allo-style Frenchman Dr Caius. There is excellent ‘period’ music (Nigel Hess) from a five-piece onstage (or rather above-the-stage) band.

Until Saturday. 0844 871 7652 (www.ambassadortickets.com/miltonkeynes).