The Pearl Theatre presents a rare production of Shakespeare’s ribald play THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. The story goes that Queen Elizabeth was so enthralled by the immoral Falstaff in the Henry IV plays that she commanded Shakespeare to write him a play of his own, one where he would be in love. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, a story of love, lust and trickery, Falstaff’s distinctive traits of audacity and conceit leave him blind to the mischief of two women and the crafty plots of the very husband whom he attempts to cuckold, creating an outrageous comedy from beginning to end.-dlm