They're All Fools for Love

It’s the battle of the sexes when two of Shakespeare’s most foolishly romantic comedies lead off the summer season at Theatricum Botanicum, a 299-seat outdoor amphitheater, carved into the Topanga Canyon hillside at 1419 North Topanga Canyon Blvd.

Kicking off Theatricum’s six-play repertory season on Saturday, June 4 at 8 p.m is The Merry Wives of Windsor, directed by artistic director Ellen Geer. The next afternoon, Theatricum's one-of-a-kind, signature production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, helmed by Melora Marshall, opens on Sunday, June 5 at 3:30 pm. Both plays will continue throughout the summer.

Alan Blumenfeld stars as Falstaff, Shakespeare’s most beloved scoundrel. Arriving in Windsor dead broke, the portly knight thinks there might be some good money to be made in blackmail.  He tries to seduce two wealthy wives with nearly identical love letters.  The merry but virtuous wives compare notes and discover the deceit.  They have no desire to succumb to the wiles of the fat knight; but, to amuse themselves and punish Falstaff for his indecent proposals, they pretend they’re interested. With the assistance of their husbands, Falstaff is discredited as his tricks turn back on him. The wives are vindicated, Falstaff takes the joke surprisingly well, but wait: there’s more!

The Merry Wives of Windsor is the only Shakespeare play to deal exclusively with contemporary English life, and has been called “the original sitcom,” complete with wacky situations and a wide array of comic characters. Legend has it that Shakespeare, having killed Sir John Falstaff in Henry V, was so overwhelmed with requests to bring back the portly knight – including a request from Queen Elizabeth herself – that he finally relented with the penning of Merry Wives.

Buffet dinners featuring traditional British fare, with Windsor wenches and country lads in attendance, will be served on Friday, July 22, and Friday, July 29, at 6:30 p.m. in the theater's adjacent gardens, followed by an 8 p.m. performance of The Merry Wives of Windsor (separate admission, or combo packages available).

Theatricum Botanicum’s magical outdoor setting will be transformed into an enchanted fairy forest inhabited by fairy and human lovers for its signature production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  One of Shakespeare’s most popular works, the play has three interlocking plots connected by the Duke of Athens’s marriage to the Queen of Amazonia, and all is set in Fairyland under the light of the moon.  In this wondrous world magic and romance, comical misunderstandings and the pain of unrequited love are resolved and all is reconciled through midsummer night revelries and the enduring power of nature.

Greek buffet "Dream Dinners," with a costumed cast of fairies in attendance, will take place every Thursday in August at 6:30 pm in the theater's adjacent gardens, followed by an 8 p.m. performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream (separate admission, or combo packages available).

The Merry Wives of Windsor opens on Saturday, June 4, and continues through Sept. 10. A Midsummer Night’s Dream opens on Sunday, June 5, and continues through Sept. 25.

The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum is located at 1419 North Topanga Canyon Blvd. in Topanga, midway between Malibu and the San Fernando Valley. For a complete schedule of performances and to purchase tickets, call  310-455-2322 or visit online at theatricum.com.