(63). All's Well That Ends Well - The Globe

I wimped out of reviewing this the first time I saw it though mostly, I hope, for good reasons.At any rate I’m glad I waited – it would have truly been unfair of me, crammed onto uncomfortable seats and missing half the action and as much of the dialogue to have made any judgements on the production. Now, having been crammed at the front of the stage instead I feel much more qualified. Though I’m a little sad that my overriding feeling is still that whilst this is a marvellous production, it can’t quite overcome the fact that this is called a problem play for a reason and in some ways is very difficult to enjoy.


The main problem, of course, if the central relationship – which suffers both from the dubious manner of it’s forcing and the fact that neither of the characters are particularly likable. Bertram behaves fairly appallingly several times during the play and spends far too much of it whining and being pushed around to make a convincing hero. Similarly with Helen, whatever you think of her treatment of Bertram, it’s difficult to get past the fact that she is as secretive and deceptive towards the audience as to the other characters. She addresses us relatively rarely for a Shakespearean lead and in the first instance keeps her plan hidden, whilst in the second she lies outright to us. On top of this lack of sympathy, the two are rarely seen on stage together and when they are Shakespeare fails to provide the verbal markers we might expect to imply the pair are meant to be together. It’s hard to imagine Helena and Bertram riffing a sonnet together.

All of which said, I did think the production and Sam Crane did manage to convince that Bertram loved Helena even if he was deeply in denial – through the carrying of a handkerchief, the genuinely tender kiss and the general tense, confused and miserable aura with which Crane imbued the character (though I would have liked them to have gone further an almost or full kiss during the first scene, followed by Bertram’s restating of their social position would have worked perfectly for me). Likewise with Ellie Piercy’s Helena, we find he is well matched in sorrow and despite finding myself still disturbed by her actions, I at least believed they were fuelled mostly in the second half by concern. An unfortunate side affect though of these melancholic performances was that it did sometimes make it feel like it was all the side characters having the fun.

And there was some superb fun and equally superb performances to be had. Janie Dee as the Countess Roussillon was simply amazing- full of warmth, intelligence, cheekiness and nobility – a perfect performance. I also loved Naomi Cranston as Diana, her confrontation with Bertram over his ring was amazing and I hope to see more of her in the future. But my absolute favourite had to be the always marvellous, James Garnon as Parolles. Exceedingly funny, expressive, ridiculous and still managing to be appealing and vulnerable beneath the bravado. The interrogation scene is of course an understandable highlight of the production (and I especially loved the physicality of the casts performances) but what really won me was the progression of the character. I couldn’t help feeling that it was his development and journey I was truly invested in.

It was also a stunningly beautiful production, the set lending a picture book, fairy tale quality to the story. Highlighted by soft, slightly ephemeral music. The costumes in particular were amazingly beautiful, the king’s shoes alone were breathtaking, and the quality of the embroidery and beadwork as always was stunning. I particularly can attest for the latter as I was hit full in the face by one of the Duchess’s skirts much to my joy – the same happened last year in Anne Boleyn and it doesn’t quite feel like a Globe season to me until it happens (it’s the only way to truly appreciate the quality of the costumes). One final note though I won’t spoil it, this has to be my favourite no mobile phones announcement yet – bravo Mr. Deery.

There’s a huge amount to love in this production and it’s certainly worth a visit, but I couldn’t quite shake the uneasy dissatisfaction the story left me with.