Sir John Falstaff arrives in Windsor very short on money. He decides, to get money with the least amount of effort,that he will court two wealthy married women, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. He sends the women identical love letters, and asks his servants – Pistol and Nym – to deliver them to the wives. When they refuse Falstaff sacks them, and in revenge the men tell Ford and Page (the husbands) of Falstaff's intentions. Page is not concerned, but the jealous Ford decides to introduce himself to Falstaff as Master Brook so that he can find out Falstaff's plans.

When the women receive the letters, each goes to tell the other, and they quickly find that the letters are almost identical. The "merry wives" are not interested in the aging, overweight Falstaff as a suitor; however, for the sake of their own amusement, and to gain revenge for his indecent assumptions towards them both, they pretend to respond to his advances.

This all results in great embarrassment for Falstaff. "Brook" says he is in love with Mistress Ford but cannot woo her as she is too virtuous. He offers to pay Falstaff to court her, saying that once she has lost her honor he will be able to tempt her himself. Falstaff cannot believe his luck, and tells "Brook" he has already arranged to meet Mistress Ford while her husband is out. Falstaff departs to keep his appointment, leaving Ford to believe he is right to suspect his wife and that the trusting Page is a fool.

When Falstaff arrives to meet Mistress Ford, the merry wives trick him into hiding in a laundry basket full of filthy clothes. When the jealous Ford returns to try and catch his wife with the knight, the wives have the basket taken away and the contents (including Falstaff) dumped into the river. Although this affects Falstaff's pride, his ego is surprisingly resilient. He is convinced that the wives are just "playing hard to get" with him, so he continues his pursuit.

Again Falstaff goes to meet the women, but Mistress Page comes back and warns Mistress Ford of her husband's approach again. They try to think of ways to hide him other than the laundry basket which he refuses to get into again. They trick him once more, this time into disguising himself as Mistress Ford's maid's fat aunt, the fat woman of Brainford. Ford tries once again to catch his wife with the knight, but ends up beating the "old woman," whom he despises, and throwing her out of his house. Black and blue, Falstaff laments his bad luck.

In the end, the women reveal all to their husbands, and Ford apologizes for doubting his wife.

As you can see, our play will be set in New York in the 1970s "disco" era. If you don't know anything about that time period, ask your parents! In the meantime, kick off your sneakers, put on your dancin' shoes, and enjoy the music!!

NOW AVAILABLE:

Click on the following links to view:

the Commitment Letter

the Tentative Rehearsal Schedule (as of February 2008)

the final letter (AVAILABLE IN MAY 2008)

ALSO AVAILABLE:

All SIX scenes from The Merry Wives of Windsor script are available for viewing or printing. Please choose from the following:

Scene 1 Scene 2 Scene 3 Scene 4 Scene 5 Scene 6  
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