Bard's All's Well That Ends Well is a well done production

By Vanessa Ho

Last week I had the great fortune to be invited to the dress rehearsal for All's Well That Ends Well, the first of Bard's two studio stage productions (the other being Richard II), and was blown away by the opulent Rachel Ditor directed production.

The standout of the production is Lois Anderson as Helena. She plays the orphaned daughter of a renowned physician is living as ward to the Countess of Rousillion (Patti Allan) a kind and gentle woman who thinks of Helena as a daughter. Helena is in love with the Countess's cad of a son, Bertram (Craig Erikson), the new Count of Rousillion (after his father's passing).

Bertram is called to the court of the King of France who is gravely ill. Love-sick Helena follows Bertram and uses what she has learned from her father and goes to the court believing she can cure the king. If she does so, her only caveat is that she be allowed to choose any nobleman to marry. The king agrees and Helena is successful and chooses Bertram to be her groom in a scene that could be lifted out of the season finale of The Bachelorette.

Bertram is repulsed that he is forced to marry Helena who is lower in class than him being a physician's daughter that he runs off to fight in the Italian wars before consummating his marriage to Helena. Bertram becomes more of a jerk when he writes to Helena saying that never will he call her wife unless she gets his wedding ring off his finger and gets pregnant by him.
Helena follows Bertram to Italy and discovers that he is trying to seduce a girl in the town where he is stationed called Diana (Celine Stubel).

Diana resists his advances because he is married and when Helena reveals that he is Bertram's wife the devise a plan that will help Helena meet Bertram's conditions. I won't reveal exactly what happens for those that haven't read or seen the play but that is one of the problems of the play but not the production.

All's Well That Ends Well is considered one of Shakespeare's problem plays in where the denouement is not exactly plausible but Ditor added a prologue not in the play that helps draw some context into Bertram's and Helena's relationship that helps the ending make sense.

However, what makes this production of All's Well That Ends Well excellent is the performances, in particular Anderson. What makes Anderson a standout is as soon as Helena comes on stage, you just fall in love with her from the get go and hate Bertram for not loving her too. Erickson is appropriately sexy and charming as Bertram so that you can understand why Helena would fall in love with him but at the same be such a slime ball that you also hate him.

Other performances of note are Allan Morgan as LaFew, an old friend of the Countess and Scott Bellis as the boastful Parolles, a follower of Bertram's. Both deliver hilarious performances and have witty banter amongst each other.

As well, kudos to Ditor for placing this production of All's Well That Ends Well during Victorian times, an ear I am especially fond of. Mara Gottler's costumes are so lovely and I also enjoyed the use of the laundry lines on Pam Johnson's set design during the second act.While I may have only seen a dress rehearsal it was still an excellent performance and I urge you to go see it once it has opened.

All's Well That Ends Well opens July 2 at Bard on The Beach's Douglas Campbell Studio Stage and runs until September 19. Bard celebrates its 20th Season this year.