About The Merry Wives of Windsor
Sir John Falstaff attempts to seduce two married women in hopes of gaining access to their husbands' wealth. The wives discover his plan and devise a series of practical jokes to expose and humiliate him. Meanwhile, one husband becomes irrationally jealous, a young couple navigates parental objections to their marriage, three suitors compete for the same young woman, a Welsh parson, a French doctor, and a foolish host misunderstand one another, a boy disguises himself as a girl, a laundry basket becomes a hiding place, everyone ends up in Windsor Forest pretending to be fairies... yadda, yadda, yadda.
About OUR The Merry Wives of Windsor: Falstaff's Tale
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Sir John Falstaff was Shakespeare's first breakout star. Introduced in the Henry IV plays, the swaggering knight proved so popular that Shakespeare brought him back for an entirely new comedy. The Merry Wives of Windsor is, in many ways, Shakespeare writing for his audience by giving theatergoers more of the character they couldn't get enough of. After all, Shakespeare wasn't writing for literature classes. He was writing to fill seats, entertain crowds, and make a living.
Our adaptation embraces that same spirit. We've stripped The Merry Wives of Windsor down to its beating heart: The deliciously escalating battle of wits between Sir John Falstaff and the women who refuse to be taken in by his schemes. By setting aside the play's many subplots, we've created space for Falstaff, Mistress Ford, Mistress Page, and Mistress Quickly to become richer, more fully realized characters. What's left is fast, fearless, and hilariously funny. Sir John Falstaff believes himself irresistible. Penniless, pompous, and spectacularly self-deluded, he sets out to seduce Mistress Ford and Mistress Page with identical love letters, convinced he can charm them out of their husbands' fortunes. To Falstaff, the women are merely marks. Objects to be manipulated in service of his own appetite and ego. He could not be more wrong. Instead, the wives join forces with barkeep Mistress Quickly to turn the tables, engineering one outrageous humiliation after another until Falstaff's towering confidence collapses under the weight of his own foolishness. Our four-femme ensemble creates comic mayhem, while our "house band," Early Music Now, provides an original live score that oils the machinery of every scheme, disguise, and delicious comeuppance. This is Shakespeare's clown at his finest. Falstaff is larger than life, incapable of seeing anyone's needs beyond his own, and convinced that wanting something is reason enough to deserve it. Our adaptation is a celebration of clever women who recognize a fraud when they see one and delight in giving him exactly what he deserves. His spectacular failures are funny not only because he suffers in equal measure to his misbegotten machinations, but because of the wildly imaginative ways the wives thwart him. Whether you've always loved The Merry Wives of Windsor or never quite understood its reputation, Falstaff's Tale offers a lean, joyful reimagining that lets Shakespeare's sharp practical jokes shine brought to life with an original live musical score by Early Music Now. |