The Merry Wives of Windsor

Shakespeare’s comedies are light and breezy, filled with word plays, bad puns, slapstick and unlikely love affairs, often carried out in disguise or under a pseudonym, kind of a nom d’amour. They are perfect for a spring night with an occasional breeze, a blanket to sit on, a glass of wine at hand.

And so it is with "The Merry Wives of Windsor," which receives a wonderful production as the 2009 offering of Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, a delightful entertainment that opened on Friday to run through June 14 right outside the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park – and it’s free at all performances, 8 p.m. every day except Tuesday. There were a handful of sound problems on opening night, but that should not persist.

Most of Shakespeare’s plays are either comedies or tragedies, and it’s easy to tell them apart. At the end of comedies, everyone gets married. At the end of tragedies, everyone is dead. Of course, one must sit through the entire play to reach that moment, but like the steamship company ad used to say, "Getting there is half the fun."

Director Jesse Berger came up with a splendid concept for the play. He set it in the early 1920s, with Prohibition in place (no fewer drunks but many more flasks) and the slapstick of silent movies riding high. Joshua Routh, a constant, talented clown in the pre-show show, makes his main stage debut during the play, and he leads the way in some fine physical comedy. Routh portrays Peter Simple (a perfect Shakespearean name), a servant to Abraham Slender (another one), and he’s a delight.

In a fine cast of actors, both local and out-of-town, John Livingston Rolle and Trish McCall lead the way as Sir John Falstaff and Mistress Quickly, respectively, a small step ahead of Jason Cannon (George Page), Steve Isom (Dr. Caius), Greg Johnston (Shallow), Miriam Reuter (Anne Page) and Daniel Talbott (Frank Ford). And applause for everyone else in a fine ensemble performance.

Rolle had an extra handicap in a role that was even more physical until he dislocated his right shoulder, necessitating the arm be taped tightly to his side in a bent position. That creates a balance problem when it comes to physcal activity (try it some time), a certain amount of pain and the fact that he had to do everything left-handed. I don’t know which is his dominant arm, but Rolle worked as if he were naturally left-handed. Falstaff, on stage so much and pummeled so much as his seduction plot runs aground on his own stupidity and the good sense of his proposed victims, Margaret Page (Rachel Leslie) and Alice Ford (Jenny Mercein).

Meanwhile, we follow the wooing of Anne Page by a pair of bumpkins, Slender (Ian Way) and Dr. Caius (Isom), and a poor but honest and sincere (right out of silent films, in addition to the Shakespeare connection) lad named Fenton (Cesar Garcia).

McCall, lithe and dynamic, is over the top much of the time, as Shakespeare’s supporting heroines often are. She’s a servant to the doctor, involved in the anti-Falstaff plot with the older women, and she brightens the stage constantly.

Though supposedly set in St. Louis, the only noticeable connection was Fenton (it might have been Arnold in an earlier version) and a charming rendition of the old Falstaff shield on Tim Case’s delightful set. Sara Jean Tosetti added costumes, with lights by John Wylie, sound by Ann Slayton and fights and movement by Paul Dennhardt.

In Forest Park, on Art Hill, through June 14, free, at 8 p.m. daily except Tuesday.

-Joe

Comments

[Natalie]

how long was the show? I enjoy going but last year it felt like it dragged on way too long!

[Ann]

We got out around 10:45, I believe. Two intermissions. Shakespeare, in today's terminology, wrote long, although modern versions usually abridge it somewhat. Still good fun, and I didn't find myself checking my watch.