Welcome to a new (but historically authentic) theatrical experience. The Wimberley Players present a fast-paced, hilarious and skillfully distilled production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by Joe Falocco, Shakespeare professor at Texas State University.

The show is staged in Elizabethan style, incorporating original practices, an attempt to replicate the look and feel of the earliest indoor productions by the Bard’s own company. Those were daytime performances (stage lighting didn’t exist). So expect no dimming of house lights, no changes of scenery on the set. Instead, patrons will be transported into a uniquely shared environment. Lighting over the audience and on stage will be essentially the same.

Seats for adventuresome volunteers on two sides of the stage will create an audience on three sides of the acting area, as in the 17th century.

Shakespeare’s 1598 romantic comedy features the famously rowdy knight, Sir John Falstaff, as he tries to swindle a pair of wealthy women, only to have them hatch plans of their own when they discover his. Falstaff is played by LeRoy Nienow, most recently seen as the dynamic Rev. John Lofton in the Texas premiere of Kevin Cohea’s "Sundown Town" at the Wimberley Playhouse. The wives are played by Celeste Coburn (Mistress Ford) and Janet Shotwell (Mistress Page).

 

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June 8 - July 1, 2012
Friday, Saturday at 8, Sunday at 2:30
Wimberley Playhouse, 450 Old Kyle Road
Tickets, $18, opening night $20 with reception at 7.
Student Rush, $10 with ID at the door one hour prior.