The
play tells the story of a swindler trying to gain access to the riches of two
families in Windsor by seducing the wives.
Sir John Falstaff, the rotund good-for-nothing, plans to do this by
writing two identical letters: the first to Mistress Alice Ford and the second
to Mistress Margaret Page. Mistress Page
receives a letter, reads it, and becomes bewildered by Falstaff’s advances. Mistress Ford then visits Mistress Page. Mistress Ford shows Mistress Page another
letter that she has just received, an exact duplicate. Shocked by Falstaff’s egotistical presumption
and outrageous effrontery, they conspire together to get back at him. Without telling their husbands, the wives
lead Falstaff into thinking that Mistress Ford is falling for his
advances. Falstaff sets up a meeting
with Mistress Ford and goes to her home.
Mistress Ford invites him in while her husband is away and pretends to
be impressed by Falstaff’s seduction.
Before Falstaff gets too frisky, Mistress Page warns her friend that her
husband, Francis Ford, is coming home.
In order to send Falstaff furtively away, Mistress Ford and Mistress
Page tell him to hide in a laundry basket.
Falstaff hides in the basket, Ford rushes in to interrogate his wife,
searches up and down the place to find the perpetrator, and the servants take
the heavy basket right under Ford’s nose.
Later, the servants dump Falstaff into the river following Mistress Ford’s
orders. The story continues showing both
mistresses dreaming up other pranks to play on Falstaff, wondering at Ford’s fatuous
suspicion, and concluding their plans to teach Falstaff a lesson. Other subplots occur throughout the play, but
all get resolved amicably and hilariously.
There
were two things I noticed about this performance: They were (1) the colors in
both the scenic design and the costumes, and (2) John G. Preston’s portrayal of
Francis Ford.
The
scenic design of the stage imitated the Shakespearean format of the Adams
Memorial Theatre. I had seen
performances before at the Adams Memorial Theatre, so I was not surprised by
the setup of the scenery in the Auditorium Theatre. The balcony of the set overlooked the actors
to allow them to fill in the theatrical framing of the stage during their performances. The colors of the wooden paneling showed deep
browns and warm yellows, letting the colors of the costumes stand out with
vibrant yellows, blues, reds, and purples.
In one scene, when Francis Ford, disguised as “Master Brook,” consulted
Falstaff about proving Mistress Ford’s virtue, he wore a cloak that displayed a
metallic, paisley pattern. This gave off
a slightly effeminate and eccentric impression of Mr. Brook, concealing his
true character effectively.
John
G. Preston, arguably, was the pleasant surprise of the performance. Roderick Peeples disappointed me a bit in his
portrayal of Falstaff; I expected more oomph that wasn’t there. However, Preston brought out the humor during
the Garter Inn sequences better. While
playing “Master Brook,” he talked with a funny, modern (maybe Oxford?) British
accent that channeled the Mad Hatter in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland. Preston
had his character break Mr. Brook’s character by releasing brutish rage for a
second upon learning about Falstaff’s first escape in the buck-basket. The audience saw the sweat and spit fling
away from Preston’s face during one of Francis Ford’s tirades. It was very entertaining.
The Merry Wives of Windsor
is not Shakespeare’s best play, but it does allow families to watch it together
without parents having to worry about modern innuendo, gratuitous violence, and
nudity. I call The Merry Wives of Windsor “Shakespeare lite,” a play that
introduces children to the florid language of Shakespeare without overpowering their appetite for comic frivolity.
They may not understand most of the dialogue, but they will not miss the
comedy.
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