All’s Well That Ends Well
2012: John Dove, Robin Lough

It seems that few people do this play unless they’re setting out to do a complete set of Shakespeare’s plays, and then of course it’s obligatory. This is the entry from the “Shakespeare’s Globe” series, which is apparently releasing, at the rate of a few a year, all of the plays in the corpus.

Like all the Globe productions, it aims at creating something like the original experience. It is staged in the rebuilt Globe theater in London. Sets are minimal, costumes are loosely true to the period, and the acting is pitched at a level that is more appropriate for the stage than for more intimate cinematic productions. Occasionally (and particularly in those directed by Dromgoole) they are too much given over to a corrosive slapstick mugging for the audience; that is not as much a problem here.

The acting is reasonably good across the board, though constrained by the nature of stage productions. Accordingly Ellie Piercy does not have the options for quiet self-disclosure given to Angela Down in the BBC production. Personally, I found that engaging, and this version does not allow nearly as intimate a look at her character. She nevertheless carries the part well enough. I also do not find Sam Cox (the King of France) nearly as compelling as Donald Sinden in the BBC version; most of his lines are barked out at a relentless fortissimo, and accordingly he seems far more capricious and tyrannical (which is certainly a valid interpretation of the character). But there are trade-offs in some of the other roles. Janie Dee as the Countess of Rousillon is magnificent, and Sam Crane’s Bertram is suitably despicable, and yet not entirely unsympathetic at all points — a rare achievement in its own terms.

Perhaps harder to quantify, but definitely worth noting, is the fact that there is a lively sense of audience engagement. The actors are at some points very overtly playing to the audience, and that transforms the experience in a way that is otherwise mostly unexampled on film. There is little else out there to compare with the Globe productions, and some of the performances are quite electrifying.

This one is no exception. It’s very well acted, minimally cut, and, what is more difficult, it manages to redeem from one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most alienating plays something enlivening and redemptive. The performances are solid across the board, and though the plot necessarily entails some sexual shenanigans, nothing is here, at least visually, that should cause parents or teachers of younger students concern.

Watch All’s Well that Ends Well on streaming video from Amazon

Buy All’s Well that Ends Well from Amazon.