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According to Director Robert Currier, in his curtain speech preceding the play, in 1895, George Bernard Shaw liked this play very much because it was not a sugar-coated comedy.\u00a0 Shaw viewed this play as being like real life.<\/p>\n
To quote Marin Shakespeare dramaturg, Cathleen Sheehan, \u201cAll\u2019s Well That Ends Well <\/em>invites us into a world strikingly different from the earlier, jubiliant, Elizabethan comedies.\u00a0 So different do we find this so called comedy that some resist the label entirely and refer to the play as a “problem play.\u201d<\/p>\n In this play, the characters are riddled with flaws and the ending, despite the title, is not a feel good, fairytale, happy-ever after conclusion.\u00a0 The name of this play expresses the saying, \u201call\u2019s well that ends well,\u201d which means that problems don\u2019t matter as long as the outcome is good.<\/p>\n This production boasts five outstanding guest artists\u2014Lucas McClure as Lavatch, the wise fool or clown, who also composed some orginal songs for this production;\u00a0 Jessica Powell as the Countess Rousillon, a great lady, as charming as old Lafeu; Scott Coopwood who is a true French gentleman; James Hiser as Parolles, companion to Bertram (Adam Magill), son of the Countess, a soldier with false bravado; and finally, Jack Powell as the King of France in an amazing performance.<\/p>\n In addition to these five Equity actors, we have rounding out the cast, the leading romantic couple, Bertram and Helena (Carla Pauli) who are not romantic and shouldn\u2019t be a couple. Helena is determined in her desire to win Bertram and Bertram is not.\u00a0 To escape Helena, Bertram heads off to war in Italy with Parolles in tow.\u00a0 Helena then sets out to follow him and arrives in Florence in the guise of a pilgrim and lodges with a widow (Heather Cherry) whose daughter Diana (Luisa Frasconi) is the newest object of Bertram\u2019s affection.\u00a0 With Diana\u2019s help, Helena aims to trap Bertram and there in lies the play.<\/p>\n Judging by Abra Berman\u2019s wonderful Costumes and Billie Cox\u2019s Sound Design, it would seem that Robert Currier set his play in the 1940\u2019s.<\/p>\n With an entire cast of skilled Shakespearean actors, Currier stresses the comedy and doesn\u2019t worry about the problem.\u00a0 So we\u2019re all in for an evening of fun!<\/p>\n All\u2019s Well That Ends Well <\/em>runs August 24 to September 28, 2013.\u00a0 Performances are at Forest Meadows Amphitheatre, 890 Belle Avenue, Dominican University, San Rafael. For tickets, call 415-499-4488 or go online at:<\/p>\n