All’s Well That Ends Well
What emerges in this staging of Shakespeare’s rarely performed All’s Well That Ends Well are good intentions encumbered by too many contemporary interpretations and conceptual motifs for Humble Ambitions’ modest resources to support. And what might have seemed simple ingenuousness comes across as pretentious chaos.
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Helena, the orphaned daughter of a respected physician, uses the skills learned from him to cure the King of France of a debilitating illness. As a reward, he instructs her to choose whatever husband she wants, and she names the man she’s loved secretly since childhood–Bertram, the son of her guardian, the Countess of Rousillon. The startled spouse-to-be protests, citing his noble rank and her lowly station. When the king insists, Bertram reluctantly agrees, but announces that he will live apart from his bride until she can meet two challenges: she must gain possession of the ring he always wears, and she must get herself with child by him. Helena spreads reports of her own death, and follows her love to Italy incognito. There she enlists the aid of the sympathetic Diana, whom Bertram is courting, and the two devise a stratagem by which Bertram’s demands are met. By then, however, he’s come to realize the error of his snobbery and happily resigns himself to the wife who’s won him fairly.
It’s unfortunate that the debut performance of a troupe with obvious talent should founder through a few misguided decisions. But humbler ambitions might make for better productions in the future.
