Robin, Simple and Rugby

Falstaff and Robin

Another of the many "threes" in Merry Wives, the young servants Robin, Peter Simple and John Rugby serve many purposes in the play.  They obviously serve their masters and do their bidding; they serve Shakespeare's literary purpose of having the lower class demonstrate the folly of the upper class; they serve our production's purpose of having significant roles for children under the age of 13.

Bardolph, Pistol and Nym

Falstaff, Nym, Pistol and Bardolph enter the Garter

Of the many "threes" in Merry Wives of Windsor, Bardolph, Pistol and Nym are the most intriguing and most remembered.  Essentially Falstaff's entourage, the men are as different as from each other as they could be.  They also have very different back stories.

I often say that productions are only as strong as the ensemble, and while that is true, for this script, these three take on part of that focus.  They each serve a different function for Falstaff and for the plot.  If there isn't careful delineation between the three, all is lost for the entire production.

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. 

How Do I Figure Out Who The Merry Wives of Windsor Are?

When I am picking a show to direct, I pretty much follow the questions as I have been asking them this week.  I read a bunch of scripts and try to figure out why I like a specific script.  I give it another read to find out what it's all about, discovering if it's a story I want to tell.

Then I tackle the big three:  when, who and where.  The answers to these three questions determine if it goes from a story I want to tell to a story I can tell. 

While I normally start with "who", with Shakespeare "when" is the big factor.  I try to find that hook that will help my audience get into the story and first see if the story can be set in modern times.  I've set Two Gentlemen of Verona in a skate park, and Romeo and Juliet at a rave.  I was all set to put Love's Labour's Lost in a fraternity house when I heard some Shakespeare purists in town were upset that I was always updating Shakespeare to the modern era.  So I decided to show them, and I set it in the late 16th century and it was a mistake.  The production had some glorious tech elements and some of the finest performances from my actors, but the audience had a visual hurdle they couldn't overcome in a single viewing.

"Where" is so closely tied to "when" and ideas do formulate right away within the second read, but first I have to determine if I have the personnel to do the show.  And in order to do that, I have to know the job descriptions for each role.  This does not mean that I cast the show this far in advance.  I always wait until the auditions for that.  Instead, I start doing what I call a breakdown of the script, so that I can get to know the characters better.

When is The Merry Wives of Windsor?

When you consider the time of The Merry Wives of Windsor, there are really three things you are considering:

1. The setting of the script;
2. The time we are setting this production;
3. The time the script was written.

With most plays you don't necessarily consider the second point, but because Shakespeare is so "hard to understand" directors sometimes take great strains to translate the story to a setting that will give their audience another "in" to the script.  I wholeheartedly believe that there is nothing wrong with this.

Purists (oh, how I loathe them) cry fowl when directors update a Shakespeare script.  They think that it is a bespoulment of the good works of a master.  I would say to them The Lord Chamberlain's Men and The King's Men did the exact same thing during Shakespeare's time.  They kept their actors in modern, Elizabethan dress, especially for the history plays.  Why should we be any different?