THEATER : Spinning Falstaff Into Distaff Issues : Grove Director Minimizes Attempt to Marry ‘Wives of Windsor’ With Current Events

Clarence Thomas . . . Anita Hill . . . sexual harassment . . . feminine empowerment . . . “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”

Excuse me?

In a leap of imagination, GroveShakespeare has linked Shakespeare’s minor comedy to all of the above. The press release announcing this week’s opening (previews Wednesday and Thursday, with official opening on Friday) notes that “in view of the controversy created by the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, the play is quite timely.”

Hmmm. It’s true that Falstaff, the portly star of “Merry Wives,” does heap unwanted attentions on a pair of clever ladies, but will the play really support such a broad contemporary link?

The director, for one, isn’t so sure. Richard Risso, a veteran Shakespeare actor and director, paused when the press release was brought up during a recent interview. Finally, he said that interpretation was “very remote” and that the comedy’s overall “good humor” tends to invite a more playful point of view.

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“I suppose the feminist (slant) is hard to avoid, simply because the women are in control of much of what happens,” said Risso, 60, who lives in Mentone, about 40 miles from Big Bear. “But (their reaction) is not aggressive or mean-spirited or retaliatory, and they respond in ways that are ultimately without threat.

“Even after Falstaff’s public humiliation (near the play’s end), they invite him” to be friends.

Risso did agree, though, that women may get a kick out of watching mistresses Ford and Page--the titular merry wives--turn the tables on Falstaff. If that’s feminine empowerment, so be it.

Historically, the gestation of “Merry Wives” has sparked at least as much, if not more, interest as the play itself. Usually considered one of the most meager comedies in Shakespeare’s folio, discussion has revolved around whether he cranked it out in 14 days on orders from Queen Elizabeth I.

As tradition has it, the queen so liked the Falstaff in “Henry IV” that she dreamed of seeing the fat man in love. Shakespeare was told to make it so, and he responded with a play that mocks the notion of romance and turns one of his most remarkable characters upside down. In fact, most Shakespeare scholars, including Risso, believe that the Falstaff of “Merry Wives” is so unlike the Falstaff of “Henry IV” that they have to be completely different creations.

“The Falstaff (of ‘Henry IV’) has a wit that shreds through our illusions, but this one is a curmudgeon (who) has such blatant naivete,” Risso said. “He’s so susceptible to the wives and their plots. We would not accept that kind of naivete with the Falstaff of ‘Henry IV.’ ”

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Risso does feel contrary when analyzing the worth of “Merry Wives,” believing it’s been under-appreciated over the years. And a good comedy can be made even better with careful editing; Risso has excised 500 to 600 lines of text, reducing performance time from more than three hours to a little more than two.

“I don’t necessarily see it as minor; it’s not a sophisticated farce by any stretch, but it is very visual and energy pulsates through this play,” he said.

“Sure, it’s a long text, and some of it is rather dense and impenetrable, with very little verse. . . . By cutting some, you reduce the density (and) the energy of the humor comes through.”

Much also depends on the actors’ interpretations, he said. The plot, for one thing, is slim. Falstaff meets the wives, dreams of bedding them, for both profit and fun, and then sets about doing it. They’re too smart, though, and get even by putting him through a maze of humiliations.

The story’s lightheadedness affects the central characters, which aren’t as sophisticated or rounded as those found in other Shakespeare plays. Risso said most are just sketchy stereotypes, requiring “a degree of human warmth that is brought by the actors at the Grove” to go beyond mere entertainment and into something more resonant.

Although this production marks his first outing with GroveShakespeare, Risso is no newcomer to Shakespeare. He’s performed and directed almost all of the canon in a 30-year career that has included time with the respected Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and the Utah Shakespearean Theatre in Cedar City.

His experiences in Ashland in the 1950s were especially gratifying, he said, because the festival was just starting out and so was Risso.

“We didn’t know anything about Shakespeare; we learned the basics and grew as we went along,” he said. “It was a real pioneer setting then. We’d do Shakespeare during the day, then cut wood and labor on the theater in the evening.

“It was wonderful, but you’re talking to a guy who devoted most of his life to Shakespeare. I haven’t regretted any of it.”

GroveShakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” will be previewed Wednesday and Thursday at 8:30 p.m. The regular run opens Friday. Performances will be Wednesday through Sunday at 8:30 p.m. through Sept. 26 at the Festival Amphitheatre, 12852 Main St., Garden Grove. Tickets: $12 for previews, $18 to $25 for the regular run. (714) 636-7213.