‘Merry’ Escapades in Topanga Woods

The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon’s charmed and charming outdoor venue, opened its 1999 season last weekend with a buoyant take on the Shakespearean sitcom “The Merry Wives of Windsor.”

Despite the presence of rogue’s rogue and conspicuous consumer Sir John Falstaff, “Merry Wives”--in Falstaff’s own, self-describing phrase--often has “a kind of alacrity in sinking.” Never a major Shakespearean comedy, the play tends to attract limiting, time-warp production concepts. You know: Mistress Ford and Mistress Page as Lucy and Ethel, in 1950s-land. Or Falstaff out in the Wild, Wild West. I’m still waiting for “The Merry Wives Who Wind-Surf.”

At any rate, in any setting, if the comedy’s jollied- and gussied-up unduly, audiences can get that sinking feeling long before the third trick is played by the ladies, their husbands and confederates on would-be home wrecker Falstaff.

Here, happily, no such strain. Director Ellen Geer’s straightforward but lively interpretation represents what could be called “tri-cornered hat Shakespeare,” old-fashioned in many respects--yet comically vital where it counts.

Falstaff, for starters. Alan Blumenfeld’s Sir John is a plum pudding of playfully rolled consonants and delicate lechery. (He may repeat certain bits, such as the tongue bit and the leg bit, but not so stridently that he slows a scene’s momentum.) Susan Angelo makes for a lovely, funny Mistress Page; she’s worth seeing just for the wonderful little schtick-lettes she manages while reading Falstaff’s letters. Mistress Page’s tricks on Falstaff, co-created by Melora Marshall’s sprightly Mistress Ford, take on the air of a giddy amateur theatrical.

Geer’s production features a comic ringer or two in practically every scene, which is how you want these things to happen. Jim LeFave’s Doctor Caius works some mysterious alchemy on his own, combining excess saliva, a really terrible French dialect (“turd” substitutes for “third,” natch) and a beard shaped like a ski jump. He’s a lot, but he’s hilarious.

In a more confidential key, Elizabeth Malzahn’s sharp-witted Mistress Quickly acts as the audience’s link to Windsor and its knavery. Leonard Kelly-Young’s relaxed, authoritative Master Page adds some welcome gravitas. And as Anne Page, Shakespeare’s object of at least three affections, the actress Fine Rees . . . certainly is.

It’s an audience-pleaser, this show, without being an audience-panderer. Theatricum’s season hath begun well.

BE THERE

“The Merry Wives of Windsor,” Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga. 4 p.m. Sundays. Ends Sept. 19. $6-$17. (310) 455-3723. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes.