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The Merry Wives of Windsor

Q&A: Jacob Ming-Trent on Falstaff, Bottom, and Shakespeare’s comedy
Jacob Ming-Trent in MERRY WIVES
Shakespeare and Beyond

Q&A: Jacob Ming-Trent on Falstaff, Bottom, and Shakespeare’s comedy

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Jacob Ming-Trent shares a favorite moment from his Shakespeare in the Park performance as Falstaff in “Merry Wives,” which premieres on PBS’s Great Performances May 20.

Folger Finds: A carved oak casket for holding a Shakespeare First Folio
Shakespeare and Beyond

Folger Finds: A carved oak casket for holding a Shakespeare First Folio

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Shakespeare & Beyond

Casket, carved in an Elizabethan style 1866.Imagine buying a book and having the queen of England give you a special case in which to store it! That’s what happened after wealthy heiress Angela Burdett-Coutts purchased a Shakespeare First Folio in…

The Merry Wives of Windsor: What sets this comedy apart from Shakespeare’s other plays?
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespeare and Beyond

The Merry Wives of Windsor: What sets this comedy apart from Shakespeare’s other plays?

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Michael Witmore

Simple (Derrick Truby) and Mistress Quickly (Kate Eastwood Norris) in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Folger Theatre, 2019. Cameron Whitman Photography. The Merry Wives of Windsor was written at the end of the 16th century, and is what I would…

Playlist: Windsor Top 20
Folger Spotlight

Playlist: Windsor Top 20

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emma poltrack

Keep the party going beyond the theater with our “Merry Wives”-inspired Spotify playlist, featuring the tunes of the 70s and more.

Dramaturg's Notes: The Merry Wives of Windsor
Folger Spotlight

Dramaturg's Notes: The Merry Wives of Windsor

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Michele Osherow

Folger Resident Dramaturg Michele Osherow explores the history of ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor,’ the wit of its wives, and the far-out 1970s setting of Folger Theatre’s production.

Shakespeare and opera: Jealousy and tragedy in Verdi's Otello
Desdemona and Otello
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare and opera: Jealousy and tragedy in Verdi's Otello

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Francesca Zambello

Leah Crocetto (Desdemona) and Russell Thomas (Otello) in WNO’s Otello. Photo by Scott Suchman. I find it fascinating that Verdi’s last two operas were both inspired by Shakespeare: Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893), yet they are very different in story,…

Mistress Quickly: From Hostess in 'Henry IV Part 1' to Fairy Queen in 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'
Falstaff and Mistress Quickly
Shakespeare and Beyond

Mistress Quickly: From Hostess in 'Henry IV Part 1' to Fairy Queen in 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'

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Georgianna Ziegler

The Hostess seems to have been a favorite character from the beginning, ruling the tavern where Prince Hal hangs out with Falstaff. Evidently aware of her popularity with audiences, Shakespeare developed her character further in later plays, where she evolves…

Shakespeare's mother tongue: English and Latin collide in The Merry Wives of Windsor
Mistress Quickly in The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespeare and Beyond

Shakespeare's mother tongue: English and Latin collide in The Merry Wives of Windsor

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Alice Leonard

“The Merry Wives of Windsor” was written around 1597, and is often considered to be Shakespeare’s most English play.

A Falstaff feast
Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor
Shakespeare and Beyond

A Falstaff feast

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Esther French

Find Falstaff at Nebraska Shakespeare, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Shakespeare Dallas.

The Cotswold Olympicks
Photo illustration by David Dilworth
Shakespeare and Beyond

The Cotswold Olympicks

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Karen Lyon

  The Ancient Greeks may hold the franchise on Olympic wrestling—but how would they have fared against a 17th-century British shin-kicker? In 1612 in the tiny village of Chipping Campden, Robert Dover opened the first Cotswold Olympicks, ushering in a…