Into the office by 8am
for my class. My supervisor does an
informal observation and gives me a great review. The class went well.
A quiet afternoon with Vicky and the cats, and then over to
the theater for "The Merry Wives of Windsor". More people here tonight so I'm glad I
reserved the seats early. The weather is
a little colder than last night but nothing I can't handle.
This play, the only one Shakespeare set wholly in England,
was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I - she wanted a funny romp featuring Sir
John Falstaff, the comic character from the otherwise serious "Henry"
series. The Falstaff plot starts when
Sir John sands identical love letters to two married women - and they find out
what he did. They decide to get even and
make a fool of him on three occasions.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ford, husband of one of the women, becomes suspicious of
his wife and disguises himself as a suitor to her, employing Falstaff to help
his cause. It just gets more complicated
from there. Geoffrey Kent, who played
Mr. Ford, is someone we associate with serious Shakespearian roles - he made a
convincing Talbot last night, and an emotional Hamlet's father in the reading
last week. Tonight we discover Mr. Kent's
versatility. His body language, sense of
timing and especially his facial gestures show us he's also an outstanding
comic actor.
The subplot involves Anne Page, daughter of the other
"wife". Anne has three suitors
- one her father favors, one her mother wants her to marry and one she loves. All ends happily but not without more hi
jinks.
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