The eminent Dr Caius, played by Pat McKenna, temporarily between costumes at the recent Vintage Weekend Merry Wives Primer performance at Book Hunters Book Shop. Photo / Daniel West
The eminent Dr Caius, played by Pat McKenna, temporarily between costumes at the recent Vintage Weekend Merry Wives Primer performance at Book Hunters Book Shop. Photo / Daniel West
The Merry Wives of Windsor is being performed outdoors at the Bason Botanic Gardens in Rapanui Rd, involving local talent at a beautiful local landmark and guaranteeing well-ventilated entertainment with lots of laughs.
The Merry Wives of Windsor’s central plot is about Sir John Falstaff, coming to Windsor between warsand deciding that he will woo a couple of wives of rich men in order to be kept in the way he would like to become accustomed (spoiler alert - he is not successful, and watching him be outsmarted is very entertaining!).
But Shakespeare being Shakespeare, there are a number of subplots (which you can thank the director of this production for reducing), one of which focuses on Anne Page and who she will marry. Daddy likes the rich but dim Slender, ardent fan of bear-baiting; Mummy favours the eminent, but French (and therefore comic) Dr Caius.
Playwrights of the age tended to make doctors either figures of fun or menace. When you think about the level of medicine at the time, you can probably understand why. However, this character is based on a real-life doctor, who was at one time physician to various royals, but had managed to annoy Queen Elizabeth I. In a play that the Queen had practically commissioned, poking fun at Dr Caius was a safe comedic bet for Shakespeare.
The real Dr Caius founded the Gonville and Caius Medical Teaching College in Cambridge, England. The cast of this production of Merry Wives of Windsor rehearsed at Gonville Kindergarten (for which they are truly thankful). Caius Avenue is also located in Gonville, and probably, in your head just now, you have pronounced it ‘kaioos’ - however, in the play and in England, it is pronounced ‘keys’. In a play that constantly references mispronunciation and the misuse of words, you have to wonder if this also is part of the joke.
Therefore, destiny has decreed that The Merry Wives of Windsor should be performed in Whanganui - and you had best not miss it! Evening performances will be held on February 23, 24, and 25, and there will be a matinee on February 26. Tickets are available online and in person from the Royal Whanganui Opera House, and you can also purchase a picnic for your enjoyment. Coffee and icecream will be available there. Any rain delay will mean performances will be held the following weekend.
