The articles in these study guides are not meant to mirror or interpret any particular productions at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. They are meant, instead, to be an educational jumping-off point to understanding and enjoying the play (in any production at any theatre) a bit more thoroughly. Therefore the stories of the plays and the interpretative articles (and even characters at times) may differ from what is ultimately produced on stage.
Also, some of these articles (especially the synopses) reveal the ending and other “surprises” in some plays. If you don’t want to know this information before seeing the plays, you may want to reconsider studying the information in this section.
It is 1942 and the majority of the men in town are gone, fighting in World War II. Maggie Dalton, wife of the long-time director of the Oberon Play House, is excited by the idea of producing an all-women Henriad (Shakespeare’s Henry IV and Henry V) and keeping the theatre open despite the lack of men. She recruits the theatre’s diva, Celeste Fielding, and convinces Mr. Ellsworth Snow, the theatre’s board president, to let them go ahead with the idea and to even allow his wife, Winifred, to play a role.
Adding Winifred to the cast, gives Maggie the board backing she needs to move ahead. She assembles an unexpected team united in desire, if not actual theatre experience. The women make their way through rehearsals, “artistic differences,” and how to walk like a man, all the while missing their husbands and longing for word from the front. But they push forward—finding strength in each other and their common goal. Together they find the courage to go boldly “into the breeches!”
