`Merry Wives of Windsor' is earthy delight.Byline: Richard Leinaweaver For The Register-Guard William Shakespeare's fat, funny knight, Sir John Falstaff, is appearing weekends at Amazon Park. It is the annual summer Free Shakespeare in the Park Shakespeare in the Park is a concept used across the world, as a form of free public presentation of William Shakespeare's works. Such performances exist in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. production. Falstaff is one of the favorite characters of Shakespeare, appearing in three of his plays, originally as the carousing ca·rouse intr.v. ca·roused, ca·rous·ing, ca·rous·es 1. To engage in boisterous, drunken merrymaking. 2. To drink excessively. n. Carousal. companion to Prince Hal in "Henry IV." Legend has it that Queen Elizabeth Queen Elizabeth, or Elizabeth, may refer to: Living people
Bohemia Eugene's Free Shakespeare in the Park follows the Elizabethan tradition of performing in daylight only. Thus the weekend shows begin at 6 p.m. and finish at dusk, necessitating cutting to a slightly shorter version of the play. At 5 p.m. there is an introduction for children who hear storyteller Sarah Cassady relate major plot developments to help the kids follow the play. We first discover Falstaff lamenting that he is getting low on money. Having researched the local gentry, he determines that he will "woo" the wives of two wealthy citizens since they handle the accounts in their houses, and should be easy gulls. He sends identical letters of love and introduction to Mistress Ford and Mistress Page (the very Merry Wives) who just happen to be friends, who just happen to share their outrage at the audacity of the fat knight's proposition, and who decide to lead him on while setting him up for a beating or humiliation. No polite shrinking violets these, they demonstrate the wit and confidence of quite modern woman. Their husbands learn of Falstaff's stratagem STRATAGEM. A deception either by words or actions, in times of war, in order to obtain an advantage over an enemy. 2. Such stratagems, though contrary to morality, have been justified, unless they have been accompanied by perfidy, injurious to the rights of , and react differently: Page with indifference, certain of his wife's fidelity, but Ford succumbs to the green-eyed monster and concocts a plot to discover his wife's betrayal. So that's the setup. Falstaff trying to gull the wives out of their money while enjoying their "gifts," the wives turning his gulling into his own humiliation, a jealous husband spying and setting traps for his faithful-but-suspected wife, and a romantic subplot sub·plot n. 1. A plot subordinate to the main plot of a literary work or film. Also called counterplot, underplot. 2. A subdivision of a plot of land, especially a plot used for experimental purposes. with three suitors pursuing daughter Anne Page. Nothing you could imagine would be more complex than the subsequent interweaving of events by Shakespeare. The title characters, played by Elizabeth Peterson and Anne Marie Maurer, were a delight - amusing, lovely, in command of themselves, their husbands and their households. Add a bawdy bawd·y adj. bawd·i·er, bawd·i·est 1. Humorously coarse; risqué. 2. Vulgar; lewd. bawd  i·ly adv. commoner appropriately
named Mistress Quickly Mistress Quickly refers to either of two characters in plays by William Shakespeare:
Joshua David Gamble played Falstaff with appropriate ego, lust and conceit. But the Merry Wives' Falstaff is "the greasy drunkard One who habitually engages in the overindulgence of alcohol. In order for an individual to be labeled a drunkard, drunkenness must be habitual or must recur on a constant basis. ... well nigh nigh adv. nigh·er, nigh·est 1. Near in time, place, or relationship: Evening draws nigh. 2. Nearly; almost: talked for nigh onto two hours. worn to pieces with age," and Gamble's youth, vigor, splendid costume and high tenor voice do not visibly justify the repugnance re·pug·nance n. 1. Extreme dislike or aversion. 2. Logic The relationship of contradictory terms; inconsistency. Noun 1. and revulsion of Mistresses Page and Ford. Other standout performances were Stuart Phillip's very modern husband Ford, Kyle Cooper's desperately jealous Master Page, and Avishi Micaiah's paroxysm paroxysm /par·ox·ysm/ (par´ok-sizm) 1. a sudden recurrence or intensification of symptoms. 2. a spasm or seizure.paroxys´mal par·ox·ysm n. 1. of gesture, affectation af·fec·ta·tion n. 1. A show, pretense, or display. 2. a. Behavior that is assumed rather than natural; artificiality. b. A particular habit, as of speech or dress, adopted to give a false impression. and perpetual motion in the double roles of Dr. Caius and Slender. Anne Marie Maurer's costumes were impressive, and were in effect the play's scenery. On a bare stage space, with the sun as the only light, with no scenery beyond the props that the actors carried on and off, director Sharon S'elove made the most of them with some truly clever bits - Falstaff in the wheeled laundry basket, the carry-on window, through which characters raged and alternated holding the window frame for the other ragers, Page's somersault into the empty basket, and finally, timing the forest at night scene with real-time dusk so that the faeries could pinch and burn Falstaff with their own candles' light. That southwest tree should henceforth be named Herne's Oak. Richard Leinaweaver, a professor emeritus of theater arts, reviews theater for The Register-Guard. Theater Review The Merry Wives of Windsor When: 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Aug. 24 Where: On the lawn, next to Amazon Community Center, 2700 Hilyard St. Admission: Free Also: Children's show with storyteller, 5 p.m. |
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