Anyone who took English in high school will remember naughty Falstaff, Shakespeare’s funniest clown. He shows up in three of the Bard’s plays — a sort of overgrown frat-house fool. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, Falstaff is at his naughtiest. The silly Shakespearian comedy about love and bad behavior follows Falstaff as he tries to get money in nefarious ways. Down on his luck, Falstaff decides he’s going to sleep with two of the wealthier wives of the village. Mistress Ford and Mistress Page are true to their husbands, but they both want to teach the old cad a lesson.

Then there’s the jealous Mister Ford, who finds out about Falstaff’s cockamamie plan. And, since this is Shakespeare, the entire plot is complicated by the tale of Anne Page, the daughter who is in love with a man her parents don’t like. In comedy, love always wins the day, but with Shakespeare, there are lots of mistaken identities, fairies in the forests and dueling lovers to complicate the path to amor. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. February 27. Through March 12. Theater Southwest, 8944 Clarckcrest. For information, call 713-661-9505 or visit www.theatresouthwest.org. $16.

Fridays, Saturdays. Starts: Feb. 18. Continues through March 12, 2011

This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2011.