Colony students bring unique Shakespeare comedy to life

PALMER — William Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” has Colony High School students sewing scores of seams and sowing loads of laughs with witty words this week.

The show opens at the school on Friday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $7 for students and can be purchased at the door or online at colonydrama.tixato.com.

Colony media and drama teacher Brian Mead said the show has been in the works since casting was completed before the winter holiday break, though rehearsals started in January. He said the school’s standard procedure for Shakespeare productions — which go onstage about once every other year — is to budget time for a couple read-throughs of the full script and some more in-depth analyses of the text, so the actors and actresses can better comprehend what the Old English really means.

“When actors understand what they’re saying, it’s easier to memorize,” the lines Mead said.

Comprehension is especially crucial in “Merry Wives,” which Mead said is Shakespeare’s “only real farce” (as opposed to a typical comedy, which is funny but not quite as hyperbolic). In order for the audience to get the joke, the students have to deliver it and understand it, he said.

Christine Duffy, who is co-directing the show with Mead, said the same holds true when she’s teaching Shakespeare in her English class — to enjoy reading the works of the bard, one has to understand the words.

“Above all, I want students to enjoy a bit of Shakespeare and realize that he is not just some dead guy who wore tights,” Duffy said.

As someone fairly new to the stage (let alone Shakespeare), sophomore Alexis Oie said she’s especially appreciated the script Mead and Duffy have provided, which provides a modern translation of the original text for reference.

“You say a lot of things in Shakespeare that you wouldn’t say otherwise,” Oie said.

In addition to the translation, she said watching the play come together with costumes also helps her understand “who’s who” on stage, which isn’t always immediately apparent from a character’s speech (at least at first). The cousins Shallow and Slender, for example — played by Ryan Wharry and Katie Hansen — are both dressed in the same pale blue outfit, and therefore identifiable even when they are not in the same room together.

Oie plays Anne Page, the sprite-like daughter of Master and Mistress Page, played by Nate Sandidge and Lunia Oriel, respectively. The Page parents are also dressed in a matching, gold-and-green color scheme.

Similar to Anne, the bright purple costume of French Doctor Caius — played by freshman Noah Valadez — reflects his unique personality.

Valadez described Caius as a “very flamboyant” character who cares most about himself and is often oblivious to what’s going on around him.

Colony senior and costumer Kahlan Duffy (who is Christine Duffy’s daughter) said she’s spent three or four hours every day after school this semester on “Merry Wives,” often working with her mentor, seamstress Claire German.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s fun,” Kahlan Duffy said.

Sir John Falstaff is another character dressed in a costume as unique as his part. Played by experienced senior thespian John Duffy (no relation to Kahlan or Christine), Falstaff is rotund in a pillow-padded way, and in at least one scene dons a helmet with an enormous antler protrusion (front-row audience members beware of getting speared).

Mead described Falstaff as a man with “all these nefarious ideas” — however comedic — about taking advantage of the wealthy wives of Windsor. In one confession to confidants Pistol (Rheannon Williams) and Nym (Elizabeth Coleman) he claims, “I will be cheater to them both, and they shall be exchequers to me.”

Yet he does little to conceal his crimes against Shallow, which include beating his men, killing his deer, and breaking-and-entering.

“I will answer it straight; I have done all this. That is now answered,” comes Falstaff’s reply to the charges.

His bluntness seems to be a big part of his charm, created in Shakespeare’s earlier plays, “Henry IV,” parts 1 and 2. Falstaff is mentioned to have died in “Henry V,” but rumor has it that the real Queen Elizabeth of the time requested that Shakespeare write him back into existence as a main character.

“She said, ‘Bring him back and make it a comedy,’” Mead said.

In its time, the finished product — potentially a mere two-week endeavor — was apparently a hit with not only the queen of England but theatergoers around the country.

“Audiences loved it, it was just so mad-cap funny,” Mead said.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.