The Merry Wives of Windsor (review)

A radio channel blared before the show started, continuing until the lights went down, and the same channel again came on between several scene changes and during intermission. The broadcast was intended to fix this interpretation of Shakespeare's comedy squarely in 1972: the announcer for WBRD (a throwaway "bard" gag) crowed about "top hits" from that year. Such precision in relation to time might have struck some as curious, since the script of The Merry Wives of Windsoris loose with temporality; it remains unclear whether Falstaff is supposed to dwell in the age of Henry IV or the age of Elizabeth I. But while the historical moment was definite in Posner's conception, the location was not so firmly set. Period less than place influenced choices made by sound designer Matthew Nielson. Only a few 1970s songs by English bands played, including Led Zeppelin's frenetic "The Immigrant Song" during the fairy pageant in Windsor Park. American artists dominated WBRD's playlist; these included The Jackson Five, Johnny Cash, The Partridge Family, and The Osmonds. Ads for Lionel Trains and Tootsie Rolls further worked to position the antics of the merry wives on US soil, even as an allusive comment by the announcer about persistent rainy weather ("Same tempest we had last night") suggested a shift to the other side of the Atlantic.

In accord with the music, the costumes by Devon Painter came from the 1970s. They featured velvet suits with flared lapels, hip-hugging bell bottoms, and go-go mini-skirts. The colors and patterns were appropriately dazzling, if sometimes dizzying. The focal point of the play, Falstaff (Brian Mani), was initially garbed as a hippie, sporting a swirling tie-dye shirt emblazoned with a peace sign over his broad frame. This was soon replaced by another shirt calling for everyone to "Make Love Not War," apt enough given Falstaff's delusion that he was a Casanova. Still, with tousled locks, a bramble of beard, and suggestions of body odor picked up by several who drew close, Falstaff was far from alluring. He remained unsavory through several more costume changes, one of which was a bathrobe. When he finally appeared in the guise of Herne the Hunter, he wore a ratty Buffalo Bill jacket along with the requisite antlers atop his head—but they were affixed to a motorcycle helmet patterned with an American flag. Once again, questions might have been asked about whether we were to imagine him and the other characters inhabiting Windsor Connecticut (USA) or the Windsor referenced by the play's title—or perhaps Windsor, Ontario (Canada).

Another source of unresolved conflict came from behind the scenes, where a wish to explore female empowerment informed the creative process. Specifically, the production aimed to realize Mistress Ford (Regina Aquino) and Mistress Page (Ami Brabson) as feminists, not merely "merry" but fierce in their rebuke of Falstaff and in their ability to defend themselves without depending on their husbands. The show's dramaturg, Michele Osherow, stated in the program that "The plot's insistence on a public acknowledgment and correction of the men's unacceptable behavior made the world of the 1970s a perfect fit for this production. It was the time of the second wave of feminism, the ERA, Gloria Steinem, the National Organization of Women, the '51% minority,' and essays like 'I Want a Wife,' in the new Ms. Magazine." Such thematic seriousness was undercut, however...