𝘔𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘞𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 Review
You could feel the venue buzzing with excitement as soon as you step in. ‘Merry Wives’ is the Public Theater’s first Shakespeare in the Park performance since the pandemic started. For many theatregoers this was their first live show in over a year, including myself.
I was lucky enough to get a ticket from my friend Juliana, but I went in only knowing that it was a retelling of Shakespeare’s’ Merry Wives of Windsor’. This time however, it was set in Harlem with West African Immigrant characters. I was born in America, but I lived for 15 years in Nigeria in West Africa, so I was very curious as to how this would look, how the characters would be portrayed and if the accents would be authentic. American productions do have a track record for muddling up and exaggerating African culture, but with the Kenyan director (Saheem Ali) and a Ghanaian writer (Jocelyn Bioh), I was hopeful.
My instincts were right, thank goodness! After an especially long year filled with uncertainties, fear, loss and grief, it was great to sit back and laugh with New Yorkers, other theatre lovers, supporters of the authentic portrayal of African culture, and black/brown people from all over the world.
The story is very similar to the original, Falstaff (Jacob Ming-Trent) has his eyes on two wealthy but married women - Madam Ekua Page (Pascale Armand) and Madam Nkechi Ford (Susan Kelechi Watson). He cannot decide whom he likes more, so he attempts to woo them both at the same time. Page and Ford soon figure out Falstaff’s plan and come up with a plan of their own, to incite revenge on Falstaff. They get their friend, Mama Quickly (Shola Adewusi) to help.
However, she has her own secret plan to help Madam Page's daughter Anne (Abena) get rid of the two suitors her parents have picked out for her - Slender (Joshua Echebiri) and Doctor Caius (David Ryan Smith). This is so Anne can marry her true love, Fenton (MaYaa Boateng).
Meanwhile, Madam Ford’s husband, Mister Nduka Ford (Gbenga Akinnagbe) has his own suspicions. He believes his wife is cheating on him with Falstaff and goes on his own adventure in an attempt to find the truth.
Merry Wives is a beautiful combination of Shakespeare’s poetry, Black American slang and African idioms mixed in with African inspired costumes, dancing and some world class acting. The goal is to entertain and this it does - in spades!
The show unfortunately closed this past Monday September 20th. If you did not get to see it, be sure to check out their upcoming musical ‘The Visitor’ in October.
