Join Valley Shakespeare Festival for the first show of its Fifth Anniversary season and meet the “Real Housewives of 1597” in the outrageous comedy “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”
VSF returns to Caloroso Eatery and Bar (100 Center St.) in Shelton on Wednesday and Thursday, March 1 and 2 with this, its latest, “Shakespeare in the Bar” production.
The play features one of the Bard’s most beloved characters, Sir John Falstaff, aka “The Fat Knight.” Sir John first appears in Shakespeare’s history plays Henry IV, Parts I and II. Falstaff, a rowdy, lecherous, hard-drinking, money-swindling, but good-hearted old soul became Queen Elizabeth’s favorite of Shakespeare’s characters. She so enjoyed him that she commanded Shakespeare to write a play focusing on him in which he falls in love. And she was so impatient to see him again that she commanded it be completed in two weeks!
The plot revolves around an aging Sir John down on his luck and looking, as always, for an easy way out of his financial difficulties. He alights on an idea to woo two well-to-do married women. Sadly for him, the two he chooses are not only faithful to their husbands, but also friends, so that when they reveal his advances to one another, they conspire to turn the tables on him and teach him a lesson he will not easily forget. Add one jealous husband, one young marriageable daughter and her three suitors to the brew and you get one madcap, fast-moving, boisterous and bawdy concoction of craziness!
This light-hearted look at love and marriage, jealousy and revenge, and class envy will leave you laughing out loud at how some things just never change.
Tickets are on sale now. Admission is $20 in advance for Table seats, $15 in advance for Bar seats, and $25 at the door.
Purchase tickets at www.vsfestival.org or by calling Valley Shakespeare Festival at 203 – 513-9446.
