(NEW YORK, NY) -- Bryant Park Presents Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor. Produced by Drilling Company Shakespeare, Shakespeare's first sitcom, featuring the classic misadventures of Falstaff and two neighborhood wives, set in an Upper West Side Co-op. Performances take place Fridays and Saturdays from May 19 to June 3 at 7:00pm. All shows are free.
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Shakespeare's only comedy set in or around London, is now modernized in the setting of an Upper West Side cooperative by Drilling Company Shakespeare. Real estate hustler John Falstaff of Falstaff Properties believes he can seduce both tiger mother Mistress Page and activist Mistress Ford. The secondary plot surrounds the antics of would-be suitors for lovely young Anne Page, including Doctor Caius, a quick-tempered young French physician living nearby. The Drilling Company extorts the same small town comedy of Shakespeare's time from a popular New York neighborhood today.
The cast features well known Off Broadway actor David Marantz (Falstaff), who portrayed Shylock in last year's Shakespeare in the Parking Lot; Karla Hendrick (Mistress Ford), last seen in Bryant Park as Gertrude in the Drilling Company's Hamlet (2014); Ezra Barnes (Master Ford), from Blacklist, Blue Bloods, and Law & Order; and Eric Paterniani (Pistol), known for Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, As You Like It, and Hamlet in Bryant Park, returning for the fourth season. The cast is rounded out with documentary filmmaker Victoria Campbell playing Mistress Page, French comedian and actor Remy Souchon in the role of Doctor Caius, and veterans of last summer's performances in the park -- Gracie Winchester, Aaron Scott, Bill Green, Jarrod Bates, Brandon Reilly, and Joe Clancy -- as well as newcomers Brad Frost, Liz Livingston, Charles Pang, Zac Guttman, Samantha Dena Smith, and Emma Gutt.
"In his time, Shakespeare's plays were always in some way reflecting London," says Drilling Company Theatrical Productions Artistic Director, Hamilton Clancy. "London was then the world's leader of commerce and culture, as well as its greatest melting pot. Today, New York City is much like the London of four hundred years ago and is the perfect backdrop for the humanity of Shakespeare plays. By setting our season of Shakespeare in New York City, we're celebrating the diversity, excitement and the people of the city."
Future productions include Twelfth Night (July 28 to July 30) and The Tempest (August 25 to September 9).
Bryant Park is situated behind the New York Public Library in midtown Manhattan, between 40th and 42nd Streets & Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Take the B, D, F, or M train to 42nd Street/Bryant Park; or, take the 7 train to 5th Avenue.
