A Merry old time at Shakespeare

One of my absolute favorite DC actresses is Felicia Curry. I saw her as Eponine in Les Mis at Signature back in 2008 and was blown away. I've been fortunate to see her in many shows and roles since then, and was delighted when I saw that she'd be in Merry Wives at Shakespeare Theatre. Further, Merry Wives of Windsor is a Shakespeare play with which I have basically zero familiarity; I know it involves Falstaff, from the Henry IV plays, but that's about all. So I was excited to see the play.

I was rewarded, because Merry Wives was a delight. It's a very typical Shakespeare comedy. Like Play On, it features an all-Black cast and is set in Harlem (though in present day, not in the 1920s, which is appropriate--Merry Wives of Windsor is apparently the only contemporary play Shakespeare wrote). It clocks in at a bit under 2 hours and is kept to a single act, which I appreciate; this kind of farce works better when momentum is allowed to build and play out quickly. (It also benefits from audience members not getting a ton of time to contemplate plot points.)

Jacob Ming-Trent and Felicia Curry in Merry Wives at Shakespeare Theatre Company. Photo by Teresa Castracane Photography.

In the play, Falstaff (Jacob Ming-Trent) tries to seduce two wealthy women, Madam Page (Oneika Phillips) and Madam Ford (Curry), both of whom are happily married. He decides to do this by sending them identical love letters. They're best friends, so immediately realize what he's done, but decide to mess with him. Mr. Page is a jealous guy and gets wind of Falstaff's plan, so decides to pretend he's someone else to see if he can find out if his wife is cheating on him. Meanwhile, a bunch of people want to marry Anne Page (Peyton Rowe), partly because she's beautiful and partly because her dad is rich. 

The play was adapted by Jocelyn Bioh; over 90% of the text is Shakespeare and while some of what was added by Bioh is obvious (mentions of LeBron James, etc.), it isn't always super clear where Shakespeare ends and Bioh begins. The program notes that the original play is 88% prose, unusually high for Shakespeare. It all flows together incredibly well. 

One standout for me is Shaka Zu, who begins the play with some African drumming, drawing the audience into the play and messing with us at the same time: the perfect combination for this farce. He pops up throughout the play and is an absolute delight.

The play itself is delightfully gay, only some of which is a slight stray from the original text. Anne's true love is played by a woman, and the show ends with two of her other suitors unintentionally marrying other men. Nobody seems upset about it (and it seems that's how the original play ends as well). There's a lot of excellent physical humor, plus an excellent African dance sequence.

I didn't love the many comments throughout the play about how fat Falstaff is, though of course that's one of his defining characteristics. It's all derogatory and unnecessary, in my opinion, and I wouldn't have been upset if Bioh had edited those out. It did make it interesting to me that the actress playing Anne Page--the object of many people's desire, described numerous times as beautiful and attractive--is plus-sized. If that's how the creative team chose to counter the negative depiction of Falstaff's size, I'm pretty good with that. Though again...I could've just done without the fat jokes.

As people exited the theater after the show, the talk was unanimously of what a good time they had and how fun the show was. It's definitely worth checking out.