Act I
Throughout the opening speeches, Helena (Ellie Piercy)
stands stage right, wiping tears from her eyes. Countess (Janie Dee) goes to
her and puts her hand on the back of her head on “she derives her honesty,” and speaks kindly of her. On “takes all livelihood from her cheek,”
she strokes Helena’s cheek, then suddenly slaps it, a surprising and funny
moment, leading to her line, “No more of
this, Helena, go to.” It’s a great moment, but she then also slaps Bertram’s
face on “in manners as in shape,”
after putting the ring on his finger. This understandably gets less of a laugh
from the audience, and fortunately it does not become a running gag. Bertram
(Sam Crane) delivers “the best wishes
that can be forged in your thoughts be servants to you” to his mother. He
then goes to Helena and kisses her forehead before delivering the rest of the
speech to her. He uses the handkerchief to wipe her face, another nice moment,
helping to establish that Bertram is a decent fellow. The last part of Helena’s
speech is cut, the part about Parolles being a liar, fool and coward – an odd
cut. James Garnon does a really good job as Parolles, and after Helena asks, “How might one do it, sir, to lose it to her
own liking,” he looks at audience members, using them for his next speech,
pointing at one audience member on “ill,
to like him that ne’er it likes,” and then finding another who might be a
good choice. But Helena walks away from him. Parolles addresses that man again
on “Will you anything with it?” The
Page calls Parolles from off stage.
The King (Sam Cox) uses a walking stick and sometimes
holds his side, but otherwise seems fairly strong and lively in his first
scene.
Lavatch’s straight, somewhat sad delivery of “My poor body, Madam, requires it” is
wonderful. You totally believe him. He delivers his lines to Countess with
honesty rather than the sly playfulness often associated with clown roles.
Several speeches are cut after Countess’ “Helen,
I mean.” Instead, Lavatch (Colin Hurley) stands his ground, leading
directly to Countess’ “You’ll be gone,
sir knave.” On Countess’ “Nay, a
mother,” she reaches her hand out to Helena, who steps back slightly,
leading to Countess’ “Why not a mother?” I love Helena’s reactions during Countess’ speech. She clearly wants to
tell her of her reasons, but isn’t sure how or whether she should. And Countess’
reactions are also excellent in this scene. Both actors shine here.
Act II
The King is clearly worse off now, being pushed in on a
wheelchair at the beginning of the second act. His changing outlook in
the scene with Helena is wonderful. Likewise, Helena goes from shy, timid and
careful to more sure and daring during the scene.
I love Lavatch’s delivery of “or any buttock,” clearly meaning the Countess’ own. Countess is
great as she decides t play along with Lavatch’s game. At the end of the scene,
Countess adds the word “back,” saying, “Haste
you back again,” and Lavatch adds a response: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
When the King enters, he does so without aid, being fully
recovered. The four lords that Helena is to choose from stand stage left, while
Bertram, Parolles and Lafeu (Michael Bertenshaw) stand stage right, with King
and Helena between them. So when Helena turns and chooses Bertram, he is
understandably shocked. After all, in the staging, he wasn’t even part of the
group – an excellent choice. It’s also wonderful that Helena clearly feels
awkward, even bad, about forcing herself on Bertram, and so when the King says “Smile
upon this contract,” neither Bertram nor Helena is smiling. When Lafeu calls
Parolles a hen, he imitates a hen, and obviously takes some joy in it. Both
Lafeu and Parolles are excellent in this scene.
Bertram feels bad for having to send Helena home, and
there is a connection between them, which of course is important to establish
and show. After Helena’s “and not kiss,”
Bertram approaches her and kisses her. I have mixed feelings about that,
because it seems a step too far, especially this early.
Act III
Countess is wonderful as she reads Bertram’s letter, at
first overjoyed at the line “I have sent
you a daughter-in-law,” and then puzzled at “undone me.”
When Mariana says, “Many
a maid hath been seduced by them,” she clearly refers to herself, and both
Diana and Widow reach out a hand to comfort her. That’s a nice touch. And from
Diana’s look, it’s apparent this is not news to them.
Widow’s delivery of “I
have yielded” is funny and wonderful.
Act IV
Parolles makes a humorous show of determining the time to
be ten o’clock. He delivers “What shall I
say I have done” directly to an audience member, then is upset not to
receive a reply. I love the long pause before “I must give myself some hurts,” and I love his delivery of that
line, as he comes to it reluctantly.
It’s nice that there are some moments when Diana weakens
and wants to give into Bertram’s affections.
The joke about the stocks carrying Parolles is cut.
Lavatch’s reference to Nebuchadnezzar is cut. His final
speech of the fourth act is also cut.
Act V
Lafeu says “upon
mine honor” instead of “By my old
beard/And every hair that’s on ‘t” when Bertram gives him the ring. Perhaps
that’s due to the actor having no beard. I love King’s delivery of “Thou hast spoken all already” and of “Take her away; I do not like her now.”
The epilogue is not spoken by the King, but by Rinaldo.
A dance concludes the performance.
This production of All's Well That Ends Well was directed for the stage by John Dove, and directed for the screen by Robin Lough. The intermission comes at the end of Act II. And the rest
of the play is on the second disc. This two-disc set contains no special
features. The DVD is part of the Globe Theatre On Screen series, released by
Kultur. As for the release date, the DVD box has it has 2011, IMDB has it as
2012, and Amazon has it as 2013, so take your pick.
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