Fabiolla De Silva (Mistress Meg Page), Shaquille Stewart (Sir John Falstaff) and Emily Zinski (Mistress Alice Ford) share a light moment in Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s production of 'The Merry Wives of Windsor.' The Shakespeare comedy is performed outdoors, amid the ruins of a historic school in Ellicott City, Maryland. Performances run through July 21. Photo by Keston De Coteau of Keystone Productions, LLC

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“What is honor? A word. What is in that word ‘honor?’ Air.” So maintains Sir John Falstaff, Shakespeare’s rotund, vain, drunken and “sanguine coward.”  

A standout character in Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays, Falstaff commands sole attention in the comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor performed by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in a delightful outdoor production in Ellicott City through July 21.   

Shakespeare reportedly wrote the play because Queen Elizabeth I wished to see Falstaff in love. As one might expect, Falstaff gives little more weight to love than to honor, for the plot revolves around an impoverished Falstaff shamelessly courting two married wealthy women of Windsor in a scheme to extract money to finance his questionable lifestyle.   

However, the wives of Windsor are wily. They compare the love letters Sir John sends to each of them. After discovering they contain the same text, the ladies devise many tricks to play on Shakespeare’s lovable rogue. 

 Falstaff, who Shakespeare describes as an old, fat drunk (among other vices), serves for comic relief in the Bard’s historical plays. In this comedy, however, he is the focus of the action as he tries to win over the merry wives, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page.  

Interestingly, in this production, director Ben Lambert circumvents all preconceived notions of how the errant knight should appear and act.  

This Falstaff (played to the hilt by Shaquille Stewart) is young, energetic, boisterous and charming. Stewart brings much of his own flamboyant style to the part, playing up the comic faults of Falstaff.  

In another interesting twist, the play itself is set in 19th-century Appalachia and performed amid the ruins of the Patapsco Female Institute in Ellicott City. 

Physical comedy plus drama

Stewart is matched by equally talented actors: Emily Zinski is a proper but witty Mistress Alice Ford, and Fabiolla Da Silva is a very modern Mistress Meg Page. Their “sisterly” closeness is conveyed to the audience as they “high five” each other while plotting their next trick on Falstaff. 

As one would expect, there is much physical humor in the play, which Stewart does well.  

In one scene, Falstaff is convinced to stuff himself into a basket filled with filthy laundry to hide from the wrath of Mistress Ford’s jealous husband Frank, acted well by Kevin Alan Brown.  

The husband throws the basket containing Falstaff into the Thames, and the scene in which Stewart emerges from the laundry basket is highly amusing. He pours out water from one of his shoes and expresses outrage about his ill treatment.  

Later, the scene in which Falstaff disguises himself as an old woman to make his getaway also garnered laughs. 

In a more serious moment that balances the comic chaos of the play, daughter Anne Page, being forced by her father George Page to marry against her will the pedant, Doctor Caius (an earnest Elijah Williams), asserts her desire to marry whom she will.  

Dion Denisse Peñaflor as Anne gives a strong speech to this effect. Will her father relent and allow her to wed Master Fenton (Harry Denby), a young and honorable man with a good heart?   

Perhaps, for “what cannot be eschewed must be embraced,” a notion providing a lesson in acceptance for the stubborn-hearted even today.   

Cast of singers, too

The multi-talented cast performs songs during intermission and at a crucial scene in the play in the forest, which is at once lighthearted and a little spooky: “The night is dark,” says George Page, and “spirits will become it well.”  

Indeed, toward the end of the play, we find ourselves in the midst of that dark forest. Falstaff, the merry wives and the Windsor community walk among the audience in the bucolic setting,  

The ruins of the Institute provide a nuanced atmosphere to what is already a deeply atmospheric play, and the forest scene staged in a wooded area after dusk adds to that ambience. 

The Chesapeake Shakespeare Company’s production of The Merry Wives of Windsor is a pleasant encounter with a Shakespearean comedy that is not performed often — as well as a memorable time spent in a beautiful setting at the end of a summer’s day.   

The play runs through July 21 at The Patapsco Female Institute Historic Park, located at 3655 Church Rd., Ellicott City, MD. Adult tickets are $50 or $65, depending on performance, and up to two children under 18 are admitted free with each paid adult ticket. Parking is free. To purchase tickets, visit chesapeakeshakespeare.com or call the box office at (410) 244-8570.