Merry days of our wives

This year’s MADC Shakespeare at San Anton is titled The Merry Wives of Windsor (Terrace) – and it’s sure to pique theatre-goers’ interest with its uniquely Maltese twist. Director Chris Gatt, whose experience with the Bard is extensive, explains the inspiration behind his vision.

The Malta Amateur Dramatic Club (MADC) is bringing William Shakespeare back to San Anton Gardens with The Merry Wives of Windsor (Terrace), after the hiatus brought on by COVID-19. As the title implies, the production has been given some local flavour by director Chris Gatt.

“The Merry Wives of Windsor is unique in the Shakespeare canon, in that it does not deal with kings and queens, or princes and lords,” begins Gatt. “Nor is it set in far-off, mythical places like ancient Rome or the Greek island of Illyria. The scene is the suburban setting of Windsor, and the ‘heroes’ are its everyday middle-class semi-country folks.”

Into this quiet ‘Ye Olde England’ setting Shakespeare creates a fiendish plot involving a major cuckoo in the nest, the outsider and only example of nobility: Sir John Falstaff.

“The dynamics of the play work best if we understand the social differences between Falstaff and the...