Shakespeare is always Shakespeare right? Well, not in the hands of MADC because for their annual San Anton production this year, they’ve taken the classic comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor and given it a psychedelic twist.
Who would have thought that setting it in the 60s would work, but somehow, as directed by Chris Gatt, it does. The familiar songs by Pia Zammit (who also plays Mistress Quickly) accompanied by a band, are catchy and had everyone singing along – although there were a couple of repeated songs which we could have done without. Her teased blonde hair and accent reminded me of Sybil from Fawlty Towers, and she got into her earthy role with her usual gusto.
Mikhail Basmadjan gave an outstanding performance and was unrecognisable as a portly Falstaff eager to woo two married women played by Coryse Borg (Mistress Page) and Charlotte Grech (Mistress Ford). Both Charlotte and Coryse were very believable in their respective roles – Charlotte especially, oozing elegant sex appeal as she wound Falstaff around her little finger while plotting with her friend to teach him a lesson.
The husbands were equally well-cast, Stefan Cachia Zammit was a laid-back Page, complete with long hair and moustache while the more uptight jealous Ford was played by Alan Paris in suit and tie, except for when he goes to visit Falstaff in hilarious disguise – dressed in black with a huge Afro, gold chains and black glasses when he looked like Lionel Richie.
There were good performances by the rest of the cast (Marylu Coppini, Colin Willis, Edward Degaetano, Katherine Brown, Wesley Ellul and a rebellious Faye Paris dressed in black leather and popping gum). Among the supporting players, special mention has to be given to the tall, gangly Stefan Farrugia who stole each scene he was in with his hippie character, looking world-weary and flashing peace signs at everyone.
Michael Zammit Maempel was perfect as the French Dr Cauis, and in a moment of directorial inspiration during the fight he has with Fenton (Edward Caruana Galizia), instead of punching him, he (you guessed it) head-butts him à la Zidane.
Jean Marc Agius Cafa was equally suited to his role as Abraham Slender, an immature and very reluctant suitor with an annoying titter.
All in all, it was a good production, save for some small technical hitches with the portable “beach changing rooms” which doubled up as the interior of the house for various scenes. I think there was too much distraction each time they were wheeled in and out, making the audience rather restless. This also interfered with the smoothness of the play whose pace could also have been tightened up a bit. As usual with Shakespeare, the performance is quite a long one and those San Anton chairs are not kind on the backside.
The performances continue tonight and every night until 23 July (excluding 17 July) at 8.30pm.
Tickets at Lm6 and Lm7 will be on sale exclusively from Agenda Bookshop outlets which are also offering a 20 per cent discount on the Merry Wives paperback script. More information may be obtained via email: [email protected] and website: www.madc.biz.