TOM TITUS -- Theater Review

Long before the actors of the Huntington Beach Playhouse were

ensconced at their present location in the city’s main library complex,

they played in the library’s backyard every summer.

Shakespeare in the Park has been entertaining audiences for many

summers, traditionally under the direction of Phil de Barros, who’s been

with the theater for 35 of its 38 years. Last season, he passed the

directorial baton to his daughter, Wendi, who -- after turning Much Ado

About Nothing into a 20th century gangster comedy last year -- returns to

traditional form in her staging of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Merry Wives is Shakespeare at his most farcical. The Bard took his

character of Sir John Falstaff from Henry IV and Henry V and put him

center stage as a rollicking lecher bound on deflowering two of the

town’s comely married ladies. And if experience is the best teacher,

Falstaff is a pretty poor student, as he falls for the same prank three

times.

In a green, sun-dappled setting, with a curtained entryway -- the only

scenic design, -- the Huntington Beach players grapple valiantly with

this elaborate farce, which actually is the same gag played again and

again. A romantic subplot involving one of the wives’ marriageable

daughters breaks the pattern frequently, but isn’t nearly as interesting.

The key to a successful Merry Wives is its Falstaff, and here

Huntington Beach has turned over an ace. Paul Burt endows his portly

knight with a gregarious personality and a gargantuan sexual appetite.

Burt approximates an animated Zero Mostel in his oft-thwarted pursuit of

illicit romance, overplaying where necessary but keeping his character

continually riveting.

Another superlative performance is delivered by Adam Clark as the

seething husband of Falstaff’s intended conquest. Clark does double duty

as Master Ford and a Germanic nebbish bound on the same mission as

Falstaff and excels in both characterizations.

The merry wives -- Tiffanie Kilgast as Mistress Ford and Theresa Brown

as Mistress Page -- are quite effective, particularly Kilgast, who’s

called on to alternately attract and rebuff the robust suitor. Jocelyn

Jolley is captivating as Mistress Quickly, the ladies’ go-between in

romantic scheming.

Reaching somewhat over the top for his assignment as a hotblooded

Frenchman is Freddie Dona as Dr. Caius. He’s in pursuit of the spirited

Kristin Wolven, who plays Mistress Page’s daughter, Anne, who also

attracts a doltish David Brenneman and her true heart’s desire, earnestly

played by Jason Lewis.

Phil de Barros hasn’t left the summer scene; he’s in good spirits as

the host of the Garter Tavern. Dan Gonzalez as Master Page, Robert

Purcell as Shallow and Steven Josefson as a Welsh cleric fill in some

weighty background assignments, as do Elizabeth Ortiz, Josh Roberts, Jeff

Toth and Lauren Jacobs in servants’ livery.

Burt and Clark have some of the show’s best moments as they scheme in

the tavern with some funny physical stage business. When either of these

two is on stage, the show is imbued with an extra spark of comic

electricity.

The Merry Wives of Windsor may not be as weighty as some of

Shakespeare’s other comedies, but its highlight reel moments are among

the best in the Bard’s canon.

FYI BOX

WHAT: The Merry Wives of Windsor

WHERE: Huntington Beach Playhouse’s Shakespeare in the Park at the

city’s Central Park Amphitheater on the Central Library grounds

WHEN: Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. through July 22

PHONE: (714) 375-0696

PRICE: TK