The Merry Wives of Windsor
by William Shakespeare
directed by Fabio Grossi
starring Leo Gullotta, Alessandro Baldinotti, Paolo Lorimer, Mirella Mazzeranghi, Fabio Pasquini
and Rita Abela, Fabrizio Amicucci, Valentina Gristina, Cristina Capodicasa, Gerardo Fiorenzano, Gennaro Iaccarino, Francesco Maccarinelli, Federico Mancini, Giampiero Mannoni, Sante Paolacci, Vincenzo Versari
translation Fabio Grossi and Simonetta Traversetti
scenes and costumes Luigi Perego
music Germano Mazzochetti
choreography Monica Codena
light design Valerio Tiberi
assistant director Mimmo Verdesca
Director’s notes.
It was by the will of Queen Elizabeth I that Shakespeare resumed Sir John Falstaff, who died in his previous work, Enrico V: that is how The Merry Wives of Windsor was born. Even our version, although after several centuries, is born under the watchful eye of the great Queen: intrigues, jokes, and wandering will thus pass through Shakespeare’s amusing taste. The protagonist of the story is Sir John with his exuberant gashons, his overabundant figure, his plethora of humor, his love for drinking and his irresistible, endemic, dishonest improbity. The characters are as ready to handle the swords, in defense of supposed and ridiculous honors, as to deploying and replacing them with Spanish sparkling wine, to unconsciously propose themselves as innocuous prey to those people who live for pickle. A human variety is be the protagonist of the story, but women will triumph over the men. They are the comrades who, with cleverness and farsighted intelligence, will put the word end to the affair painlessly for the community.