The Merry Wives of Windsor was a play by William Shakespeare, performed by Lord Westmorland's Men at The Theatre. Will Kemp, wearing a false belly, enjoyed playing the comical anti-hero Falstaff, and asked Shakespeare to write a play where Falstaff meets a King of England. Shakespeare, however, was reluctant to arouse Spanish ire by idolising an independent English ruler; he had only attempted Richard III because its title character was a loathsome villain.