Shakespeare’s Greatest Comedy?

Reduced Shakespeare Company Podcast · Sep 30, 2026 · 22m

Director Phillip Breen discusses his Chicago Shakespeare Theater production of The Merry Wives of Windsor and his contention that this less-produced play is in fact Shakespeare's Greatest Comedy. Phillip explores why Merry Wives is not just Shakespeare's funniest play but his most transgressive; how it dares to imagine female sexuality; how it resembles Midsummer except the lovers are in their 40s and 50s; how he's a Darwinist in the rehearsal room; how tired we are of the “largely rubbish” idea that Shakespeare’s text gives us absolutely everything we need; the sad truth that there aren’t…