FAT knight Sir John Falstaff is one of Shakespeare's great comic creations - a man who justifies the description of larger-than-life

That will certainly be the case when actor Richard Cordery dons his padding for the Royal Shakespeare Company's new production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, which is running in rep at The Swan Theatre, in Stratford, until January 25.

For Richard, an imposing 6ft 4in in real life, will be virtually unrecognisable beneath a mountainous body suit that is meant to make him look as if he weighs 34 stone.

"It's a great idea playing him as this vast man. There is no big voice, however, my big worry was making him sound like Father Christmas," says RSC regular Richard.

Of course, such voluminous stuffing does have its disadvantages.

"You don't half sweat a lot. I drink four litres of water during the performance," says Richard, who spoke to the Journal after the first preview performance last week and was gratified that the audiences were "hysterical" with laughter during the play's many farcical moments.

The actor, who is a TV regular and appeared in the movie Lorenzo's Oil, which starred Susan Sarandon, is a great fan of the Royal Shakespeare Company's production values and attention to detail.

What most of his audience won't appreciate is that beneath his costume, the beautifully-made body suit comes complete with nipples and a belly button, after the actor jokingly said he wanted them.

"It began as a jest but the fact that they went ahead and added them is a mark of the quality of the people," he says.

Richard has been in rehearsal for both Merry Wives and the RSC production of Coriolanus, which opens at The Swan on November 14, since August.

It is a great relief to him that he is finally able to get in front of an audience.

"It has been very, very testing," he says with feeling. "I'm enjoying Falstaff because we are in preview and because I like to be able to get in front of an audience."

He is also looking forward to taking both productions out on a UK tour to towns that rarely have a chance to see professional theatre.

"We are going to places where many of the audience may never have seen any theatre. One is conscious of offering an experience which is going to be a very exciting experience," he says.

Richard is currently renting a cottage on Waterside, near to the theatre, so that he can "stir his tea and get to the theatre with it before it has stopped swirling".

His home is in Fleet in Hampshire, where he lives with his teacher wife, Judy, near to the spot where the body of abducted schoolgirl Milly Dowler was recently discovered in the woods where the couple walk their dogs.

"The first we knew about it was a police car with flashing lights down our driveway.

"We were both interviewed to see what we knew," says the father-of-two grown-up children.

Such a shocking tragedy is far away from the make-believe world of the theatre, but Richard believes that theatre can and does reflect contemporary issues and attitudes.

"One reason the RSC is so successful is that in each different production of Hamlet there is a re-interpretation or a different thrust. It reflects the way society is changing," he says.

The Merry Wives of Windsor runs at The Swan Theatre, Stratford until January 25.

Tickets are available from the box office on 01789 403403.