Great Performances: “Merry Wives”

Premieres May 20 at 8 p.m.

Experience Shakespeare’s comedic masterpiece from the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park set in South Harlem telling the story of the trickster Falstaff and the wily wives who outwit him in a celebration of Black joy, laughter and vitality.

Recorded summer 2021 at The Public Theater’s beloved Free Shakespeare in the Park, Great Performances presents playwright Jocelyn Bioh’s critically acclaimed adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedic spinoff “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” The production is set in South Harlem where immigrants of the West African diaspora are living side-by-side with their African American neighbors. A New York story about tricks of the heart, featuring the Bard’s most beloved comedic characters, this farce stars Jacob Ming-Trent as Falstaff, Pascale Armand as Madam Ekua Page and Susan Kelechi Watson as Madam Nkechi Ford.