Comedic Shakespeare show coming to gardens

AN evening of Shakespearean humour will soon be had at Buninyong Botanic Gardens courtesy of local theatre company The Bard in Buninyong.

Kicking off tonight, Friday 7 February, the troupe is set to regale audiences with a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Artistic director Susan Pilbeam said the show, the company’s seventh production since 2017, will focus on Shakespeare’s comedic side.

“This one is real farce and fun,” she said.

“It’s full of clowns and slapstick, people chasing each other. Shakespeare reputedly wrote it in six weeks so there’s lots of stupid subplots and silliness where characters appear and disappear.

“It’s that kind of village life, but also a fun, feminist ‘girls get back’ story in a way.”

The 90-minute production follows the story of Sir John Falstaff and his encounters with the play’s titular wives, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, in the village of Windsor.

Pilbeam said the show is being amplified by Ballarat actor Barry Kay in the lead role, who previously played Theseus in Bard in Buninyong’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

“Part of the reason we put this on was the possibility of having Barry as Falstaff,” she said.

“He’s a great performer and this is a perfect role for him and something he’s always wanted to do. Falstaff is a real iconic role from Shakespeare that appears in three plays.

“He’s that wonderful mixture of charm and dodginess. Falstaff is larger-than-life and Barry himself, who’s about six-foot-something, is as well.”

Rehearsals started early last month, with pre-production also including a mask-making workshop from local creative Colleen Burke.

Each show will be preceded with 15 minutes of live music from local performers.

“When we started the company, it was very small scale, and we’ve become a much more entrenched part of our own community,” Pilbeam said.

“Last year we also did Titus Andronicus in Ballarat and we’re looking at doing another winter show. We’ve also got CresFest and have been working at different schools.

“The company has diversified a bit. The actors as well as the community are driving us to do various things.”

The Bard in Buninyong’s The Merry Wives of Windsor production will open tonight at 7pm, followed by 1pm and 7pm sessions on Saturday, and again at 1pm on Sunday.

The schedule will be repeated next weekend.

Tickets are $5 for children, $15 concession, $30 adult, and $60 for two adults and two children, and can be booked at bit.ly/40HdUeW.