The Maryland Shakespeare Festival is ready to bring small-town humor to big audiences at Frederick’s Baker Park Bandshell this weekend as part of the Summerfest Family Theater series.
With free performances of ‘‘The Merry Wives of Windsor,” the group celebrates its eighth season of outdoor shows in Maryland. The performance also kicks off the Festival’s Good Will Summer Tour throughout the state.
‘‘Windsor is a town that’s a lot like Frederick,” said Becky Kemper, Maryland Shakespeare Festival director and Mistress Ford in the play. ‘‘The sense of community is so deeply ingrained in both Frederick and the play.”
‘‘The Merry Wives of Windsor” is a comedy following the greedy and mischievous plots of Sir John Falstaff and the efforts of Windsor residents to thwart his misdeeds.
Kemper said the play’s focus on the ‘‘little transformations in our lives” is well suited for a small-town crowd. She also said the play is very audience-interactive, with cast members weaving through the audience during the show.
Though rehearsals took place in Frederick, cast members have come from across Maryland and even the Atlantic to produce the show.
Director Thadd McQuade just returned from working with Odin Teatret, a community-based theater company in Denmark.
McQuade has a lot of training in physical theater, which he will bring to the stage in this production, said Kemper.
Liesel Allen-Yeager, a Mount Rainier native who just finished her second year at New York’s Julliard School, will play Justice Shallow in the production.
Shallow is a male character, but Allen-Yeager is no stranger to swapping genders for Shakespeare’s plays. Her former roles include Boyet in ‘‘Love Labour’s Lost” and Friar John in ‘‘Romeo and Juliet.”
‘‘We’re taking a more unconventional, playful approach,” she said, describing the play’s tone as one of ‘‘joyful chaos.”
Allen-Yeager said McQuade’s rigorous physical training is tough, but contributes a lot to the show. ‘‘It’s a really cool way to approach a Shakespeare play, because the language is so strong,” she said, describing the matching of this language with an equally strong physical component ‘‘dynamic.”
Besides Falstaff’s mischief, the play features ‘‘over-the-fence rivalry, women trying to redeem their marriages and of course young love,” said Kemper. ‘‘How can you go wrong with young love?”
The Maryland Shakespeare Festival presents
‘The Merry Wivesof Windsor’
When: 6 p.m. nightly through Saturday
Where: Frederick’s Baker Park Bandshell, 2nd and Bentz Streets, Frederick
Tickets: Free
For information:301-600-2489www.celebratefrederick.comwww.mdshakes.com
