Read Merry Wives of Windsor - In Person

If Shakespeare’s two-part, six-hour Henry IV saga is a forerunner of today’s historical blockbuster, The Merry Wives of Windsor represents another, equally-ubiquitous modern media phenomenon: the spinoff. According to legend, this raunchy comedy of manners was written as a commission for Queen Elizabeth I herself. A superfan of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2—and of the physically and rhetorically outsized character Sir John Falstaff—the queen supposedly demanded that Shakespeare continue Falstaff’s story “for one play more, and to shew him in love.” The playwright, like any writer at the beck and call of powerful producers, was hardly in a position to say no. A mere two weeks later, the story goes, Merry Wives made its theatrical debut.

While this royal commission is probably an eighteenth-century invention, there is a definite self-awareness—a nudge and a wink to the audience—in the way Merry Wives sends up its history-play predecessors. By transplanting characters like Falstaff, Justice Shallow, Nym and Pistol from their medieval context into a patently Elizabethan market town, it casts sharper light on the pretensions and foibles of the clerks, hoteliers, and parsons that made up the era’s burgeoning middle class. Stirring oratory is parodied in flights of cod-Latin, continental dynastic ambitions are transposed onto the marital ambitions of the petty gentry, sexual jealousy is played for laughs. Falstaff himself, erstwhile companion of princes, stumbles through a series of slapstick comedy bits involving cross-dressing and laundry baskets.

In fact, the only characters the narrative affords much dignity are the titular wives, whose pranks and schemes expose the callowness of the men that seek to control, or exploit, their sexuality. Middle-class gender mores are pilloried in this play, and men—and the cult of male honor—are very much the butt of the joke.

Look, let’s be real. Is The Merry Wives of Windsor silly? Undoubtedly. Was it a cynical cash grab written to gratify Shakespeare’s highest-profile fangirl? Possibly. But this deployment of historical characters in a then-contemporary setting has interesting implications for the study of Shakespeare’s audiences. And it’s gratifying to see women, for once, come out of a Shakespearean battle of the sexes on top.

Come laugh, snort, and roll your eyes along with us on Saturday the 31st!

Some logistics:
We will read the first half of the play, take a break for snacks and chat, then read the second half of the play. Afterwards we'll have a short discussion - you're welcome to stay for this if you'd like, or leave if you'd prefer.

Reader role sheets have been posted. After you register, please take a look at them and then send me (Adrian) a Meetup message listing your top three role choices. If you’re open to reading anything, please still send me a message letting me know that you have no preference. I’ll try and update the role sheets every few days to show which parts are left.
We recommend reading the Folger edition, if possible, so that we're all on the same page (literally) with respect to character designations, line assignments, etc. You can find the Folger text for free online or as a PDF here: https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/the-merry-wives-of-windsor/read/

A note about location: our reading this month will be at the Capitol Hill branch of the Seattle Public Libraries. Parking at this branch is very limited, but the area is well-served by bus lines (the 1 Line/Link Light Rail, the 49, and the 8, among others.)