ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Though recent weather has done its best to throw them off, the Montford Park Players laugh through the rain as they continue their 53rd season, “A Season of Lunatics, Lovers & Poets,” with Shakespearean comedy “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”

“It is what I’ve been calling Shakespeare’s sitcom,” said show director Cody Fox. “It’s a lot less of that rhyming Shakespeare people are used to when they think of Shakespeare and a lot easier to understand.”

The romantic comedy follows Sir John Falstaff, the buffoonish knight featured in “Henry IV, Part 1” and “Part 2,” as he attempts to seduce two married women in order to gain access to their fortune.

An example of the 1950s setting for “The Merry Wives of Windsor” is the transformation of Boar’s Head Tavern into Boar’s Head Diner.

After Montford Park Players staged both parts of “Henry IV” during their 2024 season, the Falstaff spin-off was a natural selection for 2025. However, Fox clarified that audiences who missed Falstaff’s previous adventures would be able to follow “Merry Wives” just fine.

“Shakespeare did a good enough job to where if there is any reference to it, it’s not a big part of the storyline,” Fox assured. “It is easy to pick up where everything is. There’s very little crossover other than the names and the characters there.”

In fact, Fox intended “Merry Wives” to serve as a radical departure from the doom and gloom of last season’s Wars of the Roses.

“It was a little darker, castle-themed, last year,” Fox said. “I wanted to have a little bit of a brighter set with brighter tunes behind it, especially with it being a comedy as well.”

The costumes of “The Merry Wives of Winsor” are all inspired by popular garb of the 1950s.

To match the sunny tone of the play, Fox and costumer Amanda McLoughlin dressed their version of “Merry Wives” in the loud colors and pop regalia of the 1950s. The set is coated in candy-colored cheer, the actors in mid-century attire and the soundtrack in the greatest hits of the era.

“I even told Alan Steele, who plays Falstaff, I was like, ‘give it a Great Value Elvis,'” Fox laughed. “‘Give it just a little bit of the slurs of Elvis, the movements of Elvis. He’s trying really hard to be this really popular character that he’s not.'”

Audiences can witness the merriment of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” Friday to Sunday, June 20–June 28, at the Montford Park Players stage, 92 Gay St.

The Montford Park Players 53rd season:

  • “The Book of Will,” May 9–31 – Review
  • “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” June 6–28 – Article
  • “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” July 4–August 2
  • “Cyrano de Bergerac,” August 8–30
  • “King Lear,” September 5–27
  • “She Kills Monsters,” October 3–25
The Montford Park Players stage decorated for “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”