By KEN KLINGENMEIER
A Seat on the Aisle
Noblesville’s Improbable Fiction Theatre Company offers a delightful presentation of William Shakespeare’s 1602 play The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Indy Fringe Basile Theatre. Jeff Bick directs the comedy, which is sometimes called “the original situation comedy.” And for good reason.
Shakespeare’s enduring character Falstaff, filled with ardor and a longing for wealth, writes identical love letters to two women he “admires” – and who happen to be the wives of his wealthy acquaintances, Masters Ford and Page. When the women meet and tell each other about their letters, a plan is devised to show the old letch they aren’t happy with his intentions. Comedy ensues – filled with misunderstandings, plots gone wrong, and other mayhems. Hello, I Love Lucy!
Thomas Sebald takes the Falstaff role with great skill. He has provided the man with a good array of oversized characteristics which flesh out the character with continuously humorous results. Joining him as the ladies wronged are Dana Lesh as Mistress Page and Kelly BeDell as Mistress Ford. This trio provides much of the fun – Ms. Lesh and Ms. BeDell are especially good as enthusiastic plotters of revenge.
John Johnson is a standout as Master Ford, so too Angela Dill as Mistress Quickly. Johnson is multi-layered in his rendering of the jealous husband, excelling in his several scenes with Falstaff. Ms. Dill provides the skillful energies necessary to make her role dynamic and fun. Others of note in the large cast come from Shakespeare’s ancillary love story in the piece: Sophie Peirce as the Page’s sweet daughter, Anne; Ben Elliott as her unsure suitor, Slender; and Connor Phelan as her selected spouse, Fenton. All three only appear in a few scenes now and again but are none the less very solid in their portrayals.
The Elizabethan costumes are finely done by Sara Musick and her crew, the simple set design is adequate for the many locales of the scenes, and Mr. Bick’s direction, assisted by Becca Bartley, moved the action along in as comprehensible a way as a Shakespeare play can be offered.
Some problems were evident to me, however. First of all, a full-out AC unit froze the audience for the first act. That was corrected for the most part in the second act but made for a sure discomfort. Secondly, my old complaint of diction and highly excited vocal levels raised its head here. Shakespeare is so difficult to hear correctly and to understand fully, I feel extra efforts must be made by a cast to provide the best of diction and vocalizations in order to promote good communication, particularly with any accented roles. Certainly not all the actors were guilty of this shortcoming, but enough lines and speeches went by without my clearly understanding them, that I believe it was a significant issue. The solution lies with the directing staff – can you understand your actors if you are not reading along in the script during rehearsals? The venue itself is no friend to proper acoustics and is also a part of this problem.
Bottom line: This cast and crew bring forth a rich, colorful and humorous rendering of one of my favorite Shakespeare plays. It is full of marvelous portrayals with sections of hilarity and is certainly a worthwhile entertainment.
The Merry Wives of Windsor continues through Oct. 31 at the Indy Fest Basile Theatre, 719 E. St. Clair St., Indianapolis. For ticket information go to indyfringe.org/performance/bard-fest-merry-wives.
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