Meg Page

Meg and Alice

Meg Page is a faithful wife, caring mother and good friend.  Her honor is never questioned, and her integrity is intact.  She is level-headed and takes her prayers seriously.  She does her best by her family and expects them to do the same.

And perhaps she's a little bit bored.

Rehearsal Report--6/22

Servants dropping Falstaff

A transformative rehearsal tonight with the ladies Ford and Page.  We were focusing on the A-plot and the two assignation scenes primarily--blocking the servants and Robin into the sequences.  Then afterwards I focused on the two merry wives.

The blocking went fine.  It was our first rehearsal with the actress who plays Robin, and I think she's going to be quite funny.  The servants (now officially nameed Juanita and Roberta) are two of the really fine adult women actresses who auditioned.  I have given them the chioce to improv their parts as much as they desire.  I trust both women and know they won't steal focus.

Rehearsal Report--6/16

Tonight we focused on the A-plot.  The duping of Falstaff by Ford (Brooke) and the merry wives.  This is a great groups of experienced actors with a mix of exposure to playing Shakespeare.  They took to it very well.  I had abandoned the concept of reading through scenes first at the previous rehearsal and we jumped right in.  We got a fair amount accomplished.  In fact we were just one Falstaff/Quickly scene and one Falstaff/Ford scene away from doing all of their blocking.

So...Who Are The Merry Wives of Windsor?

This took a little bit longer than I expected.  Essentially there are 19 principal roles, with three of them going to children.  Figuring out the relationships and what makes the characters tick is a time consuming process.  Especially when there are 6 principals who do not have a lot of lines but a lot of stage time.

So let's dig right in and get to the cast breakdown. 

What is The Merry Wives of Windsor?

The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of Shakespeare's middle era comedies which I am going to say was written in 1600.  A far more detailed explanation for my choosing of that date will come in the immediate future.  There is much debate about the actual year of authorship, as there is with most dates for anything Shakespeare related.

I am quite in love the idea that this play was written at the request of Elizabeth I because she enjoyed the character of Falstaff so much and wanted to see a play with him in love. 

The play focuses on the oafish knight Sir John Falstaff and his attempts to woo two married women so that he may be a "kept" man.  A secondary plot revolves around Anne Page, the eldest daughter of one of the women Falstaff is wooing, and the three men that are vying for her affection. 

The comedy is broad, perhaps the broadest of any of the Shakespeare plays, and oftentimes borders on farcical slapstick.  Many contemporary scholars/directors liken it to a sitcom; one of the popular "adapted settings" is that of a 1950's/early 60's sitcom setting.