BWW Reviews: THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR from Seattle Shakespeare Company

Seattle Shakes is rounding out their 20^th Anniversary season with Shakespeare's comedy "The Merry Wives of Windsor".  And after starting out their Anniversary season with the sublime "Hamlet" (which I still can't stop thinking about) and then putting up their rollicking version of "The Threepenny Opera", it's a shame they finished off with a whimper rather than a bang with this production which, while having its moments of fun, came across as uneven, unfocused and at times confusing.

Regarded as one of Shakespeare's not so well written plays, we find ourselves again in the company of Sir John Falstaff (John Patrick Lowrie), that lovable rogue from the two "Henry IV" plays.  He has made his way to Windsor and penniless he decides he will woo two wealthy married ladies of the town, Mistress Page (Leslie Law) and Mistress Ford (Candace Vance) for their money.  But the ladies, after respectively cringing at the advances of the aging and rotund Falstaff, find that he has made the same proposition to the other and plot revenge on him.  Meanwhile, both of their husbands are alerted of Falstaff's indiscretions and while Master Page (Alex Robertson) shrugs it off, Master Ford (Anders Bolang) plots his own revenge on the rogue. 

There's also a secondary story wherein the Page's daughter Anne (Katherine Jett) is pursued by three suitors.  The foppish Master Slender (Christopher Hopkins-Ward) whom her Father favors, the equally ridiculous Dr. Caius (Gavin Cummins) favored by her Mother and the handsome Master Fenton (Aaron Lamb) whom she loves.  But this story does end up as somewhat secondary as the focus is on Falstaff.

As I said, the production tends towards the unfocused as director Terry Edward Moore seems to have the cast playing the joke and the caricatures rather than the situations and the people.  Some of the caricatures are fun.  Hopkins-Ward has some lovely moments as he plays the inexperienced fool but never seems to waver from this one joke.  Lowrie is blustery and grand as the inept Falstaff but lacked some of the command and confidence that I expect from the character.  And Bolang was likable as the jealous Master Ford especially when he put on his alter ego of Master Brook to fool Falstaff and had a truly touching moment as he lamented the assumed betrayal of his wife, but then bounced right into manic and crazed in the next scene which just felt over the top.

Really it was the two wives who made the play fun for me.  Vance and Law as the scheming wives had well thought out and layered characters which were truly fun to watch.  Especially Law whose charisma and presence (not to mention that evil little twinkle in her eye) made every scene she was in a joy.  But despite being the title characters, they're really not on stage that much.

And then there was the confusion.  First and foremost a play needs to tell a story.  But this production seemed to have difficulty in getting its across especially in act one.  I found myself confused as to what the intentions were.  And it wasn't just me.  The couple behind me was having a similar problem as at intermission they tried to decipher what was going on (and this was even after one of them had looked up the synopsis on Wikipedia and commented that none of what he read seemed to be in this play).  Much of the problem I felt stemmed from two very thick and difficult accents in the show.  Dr. Caius with his French accent and Sir Hugh Evans with his Welsh accent have a lot of the exposition in the show.  But their accents were so thick that I was only able to catch about every fifth word.  And while at times humorous, didn't lend themselves to conveying a message.

Overall, for a season that started off so exciting and promising, this production left me a little disappointed.

"The Merry Wives of Windsor" from Seattle Shakespeare Company plays at the Center House Theatre in the Seattle Center through May 15^th.  For tickets or information contact the Seattle Shakespeare Company box office at 206-733-8222 or visit them online at www.seattleshakespeare.org.

Photo credits: John Ulman

 

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