Bard on the Beach's Merry Wives embraces World Cup chaos

A wave of raised arms ripples across the crowd at Bard on the Beach, pulling spectators into its momentum. It's not happening at BC Place during a World Cup match. It's happening under the tents at Sen̓áḵw–Vanier Park.

Bard on the Beach's new adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor places a bet on the ability of both soccer and Shakespearean comedy to make a crowd feel good together. Writer Bruce Horak and cowriter and director Rebecca Northan have reimagined the play as a contemporary take set in a fictional Vancouver suburb named Windsor during World Cup fever.

The plot remains essentially the same: Falstaff, here reimagined as a retired soccer star, returns to his hometown and sets out to seduce two married women for their money. His targets are the titular wives of Windsor, Mrs. Page and Mrs. Ford. What Falstaff doesn't realize is that the women quickly see through his scheme and join forces to devise their own.

Athleisure replaces Elizabethan frocks, and a community centre becomes the hub where the play's bawdy cast of schemers, lovers, and busybodies gathers. The soccer element is admittedly a gimmick, but it's a shrewd one. Merry Wives accommodates experimentation well—its prose-heavy dialogue and focus on ordinary people rather than kings or nobles makes it one of Shakespeare's most accessible and adaptable comedies.

Ashley Wright reprises the role of Falstaff, wearing his slick vanity like a well-worn tracksuit and keeping the shameless conman buoyant even as indignities mount. Jennifer Lines and Melissa Oei play the wives. Rachel Angco gives Anne Page, captain of the women's soccer team, a welcome steadiness, while Cameron Grant brings effortless likability to Fenton, captain of the men's team.

The production runs through September 19 at the BMO Mainstage at Sen̓áḵw–Vanier Park. The laughs arrive pretty much nonstop, and those convinced by the opening whistle that their primary goal is laughter will find themselves genuinely entertained.