Duniya Journal

The Merry Wives of Windsor. Photo by Emily Cooper

by Imtiaz Popat

This year the Bard on Beach his caught up in the FIFA Frenzy in its reimagined Merry Wives of Windsor on the main stage at Sen̓áḵw–Vanier Park.

The take in the FIFA fever, Writer Bruce Horak and cowriter and director Rebecca Northan have reimagined this adaptation, starting of at the soccer field and the Windsor Community Centre.    The imagination works well as this Shakespear soap opera tale of a whimsical comedy full of flirtations and pranks. Although the this is modern adaptation, much of the Shakespeare dialogue is intact, which works well but sometimes confusing.

The other twist in this adaptation is a gender-neutral character. Sara Vickruck plays Slender, a non-binary character This also a diverse cast unlike the Shakespeare’s original characters. Rachel Angco plays Anne Page who in this rendition is the captain of the women’s soccer tearm and Simple. Cameron Grant plays Fenton is the captain of mens soccer team in this. Manish Sharma plays Mr.Page and Zahf Paroo plays Evans.

I went to see the play on Thursday June 25^th evening, when there was a technical malfunction where Ashely Wright who plays Flalstaff was injured. I went back on Saturday June 27^th to see the full play again with Paul Moniz the understudy playing Falstaff this time. He was reading from script which worked as a prop to prompt. Over all the play went well this time and story carried through with a standing ovation at the end. This rendition of the Merry Wives of Windsor is worth a watch in the backdrop of the FIFA Furor.in town. It’s a good gimmick to get people to go the Bard this year as party of the cultural entertainment for the world cup. It may