All’s Well That Ends Well
1981: Elijah Moshinsky

This is the BBC Shakespeare Plays entry for All’s Well that Ends Well. It’s certainly competently made, featuring Ian Charleson (whom many will recall as Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire) as Bertram, the legendary Michael Hordern, and a handful of others who will be recognizable from other of the BBC productions. Robert Lindsay is the First French Lord, for example — a fairly minor part — but he also turns up as Benedick in the BBC Much Ado About Nothing, where he does an excellent job. Donald Sinden, possessing one of the most sonorous basso voices in the history of theater, gives the role of the King a suitable gravity. Nickolas Grace (listed here merely as “soldier”) may be known to some from the 1981 production of Brideshead Revisited, in which he played Anthony Blanche.

The heart and soul of any production of the play, though, is Helena, who is one of the most subtly nuanced and difficult of Shakespeare's women. Here Angela Down does not disappoint. She brings a perfect balance of vulnerability and inner strength of character to a role that could be simply pathetic or else conniving and hard. Here she evokes respect and sympathy, but never becomes banal. She is supported by a balanced portrayal of Diana by Pippa Guard, who makes more prominent appearances as Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Miranda in The Tempest, and the Porpentine girl in The Comedy of Errors.

Elijah Moshinsky is a reliable director, and even the minor parts are all more than adequately covered. I am hard put to find this or any other production of the play unreservedly captivating, because the character of Bertram himself takes a toll that is for me nearly insurmountable. In all objective terms, though, the performance is quite good, and for me, at least, it improves on repeat viewings. This is, moreover, one of only two versions I have been able to find of this difficult and problematic play, and those who want to see some version should well consider it.

The production values are those fairly typical of the BBC Shakespeare Plays series — straightforward sets and costumes, minimal scene changes, and fairly reserved camera placement. The music is largely post-Jacobean — generally early baroque — but it suits the tonality of the play well enough. The experience is closer to the theatrical than is typical in more modern cinematic renditions. It’s also mostly uncut, so the play is not gravely compromised in that respect. There is nothing in the production (apart from the dicey bits of the plot itself, including, obviously, the so-called “bed trick”) that should raise any parental eyebrows.

Buy the complete BBC Shakespeare Plays at Amazon. Note that this will require a Region 2 player or a region-free player: it will not play on most normal American DVD players. Nevertheless, the price is so reasonable that even with a region-free player thrown into the deal, you’ll come out ahead.

Buy the complete set of the BBC Shakespeare Plays or individual plays (including this one) in Region 1 format direct from Ambrose Video.