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I'm sure you all knew I was going to pick The Merry Wives of Windsor for this (though I will confess to being tempted by both Love's Labor's and 2 Henry IV).



The thing about MWW is, while it's usually performed as a standalone play (and works fine as one), it acquires all these extra layers if you look at it as part of the second tetralogy (or pentalogy, rather). Because it's doing some of the same things as the Henry plays, surprisingly -- it's an ensemble piece, a kind of cross-section of England, with rogues and justices and servants and tavern-keepers going about their business in the background of the main plot. And while that plot is farcical rather than historical, there is enough court-country tension, and enough about social class and power, to keep those connections with the history plays visible: Falstaff pledging to make Mistress Ford a lady, Page fearing that Fenton "is of too high a region; he knows too much"; the slightly vexed relationship that the whole town seems to have with the court. But none of this is really overt -- mostly, it's a play that celebrates the ordinary and the everyday. And it provides a space where all those tensions can get defused without anyone getting seriously hurt -- which never happens in the history plays, and I think the happy ending is a little poignant, simply because all that reconciliation is so elusive elsewhere.

And there are so many little, keenly observed details, like Falstaff having a chamber at the inn "painted about with the story of the Prodigal," and Ford being afraid that his neighbors are going to turn his jealousy into a proverb, and Slender trying to court Anne by telling her stories about bear-baiting (and we even learn the name of the bear). Windsor feels like a real place, unlike the vague Italy of the other comedies; Shakespeare knows, for example, where the servants would go to do the laundry. And there are tantalizing bits of local history, like the story of Herne the Hunter.

Also, it has middle-aged, middle-class women KICKING ASS. Which is inherently awesome.



Day #1: Your favorite play
Day #2: Your favorite character
Day #3: Your favorite hero
Day #4: Your favorite heroine
Day #5: Your favorite villain
Day #6: Your favorite villainess
Day #7: Your favorite clown
Day #8: Your favorite comedy
Day #9: Your favorite tragedy
Day #10: Your favorite history
Day #11: Your least favorite play
Day #12: Your favorite scene
Day #13: Your favorite romantic scene
Day #14: Your favorite fight scene
Day #15: The first play you read
Day #16: Your first play you saw
Day #17: Your favorite speech
Day #18: Your favorite dialogue
Day #19: Your favorite movie version of a play
Day #20: Your favorite movie adaptation of a play
Day #21: An overrated play

Day #22: An underrated play
Day #23: A role you've never played but would love to play
Day #24: An actor or actress you would love to see in a particular role
Day #25: Sooner or later, everyone has to choose: Hal or Falstaff?
Day #26: Your favorite couple
Day #27: Your favorite couplet
Day #28: Your favorite joke
Day #29: Your favorite sonnet
Day #30: Your favorite single line

Date: 2010-08-13 03:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lareinenoire.livejournal.com
I have to admit, I hadn't really read MWW until I had to write that fic for [livejournal.com profile] care_faith_hope, and I had a lot of fun. Also, I quite enjoyed the BBC version, and I love how in many ways the play is an odd microcosm for various tensions in the Second Tet. (Which is why I ended up writing about Anne and Fenton.)

Date: 2010-08-15 02:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] cisic.livejournal.com
I like hearing other people talk about this play, because I don't like it. I just don't find it that funny. So I like hearing other people's opinions because then I can learn more about the play.

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