Theatre Department to present ‘The Merry Wives’

The Department of Theatre will present “The Merry Wives” from Thursday, Oct. 23, through Sunday, Nov. 2, in the Black Box Theater of the Robinson Hall for the Performing Arts.

Shakespeare’s hilarious and biting satire “The Merry Wives of Windsor” gets a new twist in this updated staging adapted by dramaturge Andrew Hartley, Robinson Distinguished Professor of Shakespeare. Lecturer Kelly Ryan will direct the production.

The middle-class world of Windsor is rocked by the arrival of cash-starved party animal and all-around has-been Falstaff, who is looking to raise some money off his imagined sex-appeal. Insulted and appalled, Mistresses Page and Ford join forces to teach him a lesson. But with a spying jealous husband, a family quarrel over a daughter’s choice of a mate and a society driven by what people can get out of each other, Falstaff isn’t the only trouble in this suburban paradise.

Performances on Oct. 23-25 and Oct. 29-Nov. 1 will be at 7:30 p.m. Sunday matinees on Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 will be at 2 p.m. Tickets are $14 general admission; $9 for seniors and UNC Charlotte faculty and staff; and $6 for all students and can be purchased through the Robinson Hall Box Office website.