Content Warnings

At the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, we believe in preparing our audiences - especially families and educators - with the information they need to feel comfortable and confident at the theatre.

This page offers guidance on content that may be helpful to know in advance, including language, themes, or theatrical effects such as haze, strobe lighting, or loud noises. While our productions vary in tone, we aim to give you a heads-up about anything that might raise questions for younger audience members or be startling for some viewers.

SPOILER ALERT! Some of these descriptions may contain plot points that may give away key moments.

If you have specific questions about a production, feel free to reach out to us directly. We're happy to help you plan your visit.

Shakespeare had a knack for weaving adult humor into his comedies, and The Merry Wives of Windsor is no exception. Our production plays everything for laughs with no graphic content, but it does include:

Language and innuendo (all used in period-appropriate, comedic context):

  • “Make love” – used in the historical sense of wooing or seducing.

  • Multiple jokes about seduction or romantic pursuit.

  • “Erecting a house” – used as a pun with sexual connotation.

  • Other sexual references or double meanings (e.g. “the motions,” “haunch,” “lust”).

  • “Cuckold” – a period term for a man whose wife has been unfaithful, played for laughs.

  • “Whores,” “hag,” and “ass” – insults thrown in comedic scenes.

  • “Damned” and “hell” – religious language.

Other themes and moments:

  • Characters drink alcohol in a pub (specifically “sack,” a type of wine)

  • Comic physical violence (e.g. fist-fights and pratfalls)

  • Occasional gender-based humor and traditional stereotypes are present, especially in Falstaff’s treatment of the women, though the play ultimately empowers the women who prank him

  • Some jokes reference or rely on body-shaming or fatphobic humor, particularly at Falstaff’s expense

  • Includes lighthearted disguise-based gags, including moments where men dons women's clothing for comic effect

If your family has enjoyed other Shakespeare comedies like Twelfth Night or Much Ado About Nothing, this production should feel right in line.