Gwendolyn Sobkowiak | staff writer

If, on a lazy Autumn weekend, you should find yourself hankering for melodrama from times of old, I would be inclined to direct you to this year’s annual Shakespeare in the park production.

Bursting with energy, Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks’ lively crew has brought to the public another semimodern twist on a Renaissance classic. Set on a rotating schedule, the show can be seen in the coming weeks as it moves between Hazelwood Green, Riverview Park, and Westinghouse Park. This year’s production, “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” directed by Cat Aceto, showcases a timeless tale of romance, desperation, and double crossing. Set to an ‘80s sound track and resplendent with enough neon lycra to give our parents childhood flashbacks, this interpretation of a Shakespearean classic marries modernity and tradition with a fingerless glove.

Yesterday, on a not-so-sunny Sunday afternoon, I seated myself in a folding chair next to Arts and Entertainment Editor Charlotte Shields-Rossi, and watched the merriment unfold firsthand. As a Shakespeare novice, I was worried that I might be ill suited to enjoy a production chock full of iambic pentameters and rhyming couplets. Luckily, I found myself well cared for.

An audience of about 30 gathered in Blue Slide Park, adorned in raincoats and sporting umbrellas, in preparation for the inclement weather forecasted that day.

Barbra Johnstone, a local Shakespeare enthusiast, who regularly attends the annual play and looks forward to new interpretations of the Bard’s classics, told me that she’d heard rave reviews.

“Friends told me it was laugh out loud funny,” Johnston said, “Shakespeare always has funny parts.”

Even with a small, donation based budget, the performance shone. Props included reflective streamers, classic ‘80s toys (Rubik’s Cubes, Mr. Potato Head and Troll Dolls), hand painted signs to help transition scene changes and trunks full of Mohawks, masks, and fairy disguises. Costumes layered see-through mesh muscle shirts, tutus, and pleather harnesses. Despite the downpour the performers persisted with blue, reflective eyeshadow streaking down their cheeks.

The play is about 90 minutes in length and, although the rain made for an early curtain call, the scenes of merry mischief made the time fly by.

Some audience members amongst the onlookers were more familiar with the work. Mark Aune, a Professor in the Department of English, at California University of Pennsylvania noted that this unconventional take on the tale still appealed to even the most educated among us.

“I love to see performances across the spectrum, whether it’s a professional performance in London or something like this. I think they both have something to offer,” Aune said.

The show is free, but also refreshingly accessible, despite maintaining most of the play’s original dialogue. The performer’s emphasis, gestures, and exaggerated movements help to bridge the gap between old English and the modern ear. Jo Getting, who plays the swaggering (or at times staggering) John Falstaff, a knight who, in a desperate grab for cash, attempts to court two married women by sending them identical letters, said that this is something the show is striving for.

“The cast has worked hard to ensure the audience understands what’s happening and what we’re saying. We want everyone to be in on all the jokes,” Getting said.

In previous years, Getting has been a fairy and Philostrate in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” She says that people’s disinterest in Shakespeare often stems from a misunderstanding about the plays’ true nature.

“These days, folks hear Shakespeare and think of an actor wearing a ruffled collar, holding a skull, and speaking somberly in a vaguely British accent. Shakespeare is so much more, his plots and characters resonate more than four centuries after his death – just one reflection of his brilliance,” she said.
Adorned in muddy Converse, purple pinstriped culottes and winged eyeliner so fierce it extended past their temples, this year’s cast has delivered for this writer on that promise.

The Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks website puts it best: “With MTV-era style, Pittsburgh references, exuberant physicality and a cast of characters gleefully unconcerned with society’s rules about gender and sexuality, this Shakespearean comedy pulses with music, mischief, flirtation and revenge.”

Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks will be held until Oct. 11. They are held Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday and Sundays at 2 p.m. For information on locations, visit their website.

Gwendolyn Sobkowiak can be reached at sobkowiakg@duq.edu