The world's their oyster: 14th Annual New Mexico Shakespeare Festival to perform 'The Tempest,' 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'

Shipwrecked with sorcery and magic, “The Tempest” conveys the message that to forgive and be forgiven is the greatest freedom on earth.

Shakespeare’s original dramedy, the play opens the 14th Annual New Mexico Shakespeare Festival on Friday, June 7, at the New Mexico Veterans’ Memorial. The comedy “The Merry Wives of Windsor” follows on Saturday, June 8. The free performances will alternate on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through July 6. Two additional locations have been added: Old Town Plaza on June 13 and 20 and at Winrock Town Center Park on June 27.

Twelve years before the action of “The Tempest,” Prospero, formerly the Duke of Milan and a gifted sorcerer, had been usurped by his treacherous brother Antonio with the aid of Alonso, King of Naples. Escaping by boat with his infant daughter Miranda, Prospero flees to a remote island where he has been living ever since, using his magic to force the island’s only inhabitant, the monstrous Caliban, to protect him and Miranda.

“I’ve been fascinated by this play for a long time,” said director Paul Ford. “I’ve been doing Shakespeare for 40 years. ‘The Tempest’ was sort of the culmination of my understanding of who Shakespeare was as a man. (The play) is a mature reflection on a life well-lived and how it’s lived.”

When a ship carrying his brother Antonio and the King of Naples passes nearby, Prospero conjures up a storm with help from his sprite Ariel and the ship is destroyed. The shipwrecked Antonio and his entourage wash up on the island. Eventually, the king’s son and Prospero’s daughter fall in love.

(Prospero) “gathers them all together at the end and reveals himself,” Ford said. “And he forgives them. He gives back his magic to return to life.”

“It’s a journey away from grievance, away from resentment,” Ford said. “Only in releasing these resentments do we free ourselves.”

In “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” the women fool that scoundrel Falstaff.

Director Micah Linford is placing the play in the 1920s, the time of the suffragettes and the flappers.

“What really appeals to me is the women are so much smarter than the men,” he said.

Falstaff decides to fix his financial woes by seducing the wives of two wealthy merchants. The wives find he sent them identical letters and take revenge by playing tricks on Falstaff when he comes calling. With the help of their husbands and friends, the ladies play one last trick in the woods to put Falstaff’s mischief to an end.

“This is definitely one of the comedies,” Linford said. “This is what we might think of as a modern sitcom.

“We try to find some (redemption) for Falstaff,” he continued. “He’s definitely after the women. They all know exactly what’s going on from the start. The men think they’re in control. And it’s really fun to watch in the end that they really have no idea what’s going on.”

Tradition has it that “The Merry Wives of Windsor” was written at the request of Queen Elizabeth I. After watching “Henry IV, Part I” she asked Shakespeare to write a play showing Falstaff in love.

This marks Linford’s first time directing at the festival. His acting credits include “Julius Caesar,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “The Taming of the Shrew,” “The Merchant of Venice,” “Richard III” and more.

Ford was a long-time acting professor at the University of New Mexico who has directed “Blythe Spirit,” “Man of La Mancha” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.”