Shakespeare & Company presents Tina Packer's fresh take on All's Well That Ends Well
Lenox — What’s in a ring? For the first time in on its main stage, Shakespeare & Company presents William Shakespeare’s All’s Well that Ends Well this summer. Directing at S & Co. for the first time since her critically lauded King John in 2005, Tina Packer presents a fresh, insightful take on this seldom-produced tale of journeys, transformation, and female empowerment: a young woman’s quest to win her reluctant husband’s love, attention, and a very special ring. All’s Well that Ends Well plays at Founders’ Theatre June 20 to August 31. Press Opening is Friday, June 27 at 8 p.m. RSVP to aspenlieder@shakespeare.org.Founders’ is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. Performances in the evenings run at 8:00 p.m. and in the afternoons at 3:00 p.m. Tickets range from $15 to $60. For a complete listing of productions and schedules, to inquire about student, senior, Berkshire resident and Rush Tix, or to receive a brochure, please visit the website at www.shakespeare.org or call the Box Office at (413) 637-3353. For group visits, contact Group Sales Manager Victoria Vining at (413) 637-1199 ext. 132.
This lively production is filled with music and dance, as longtime Company favorite Susan Dibble returns to choreograph and up-and-comer Bill Barclay, Shakespeare & Company’s Resident Music Director, contributes original music. Music is a true unifying force in this production. Inspired by the history of troubadours—Rosillion, the home of The Countess, her son Bertram and ward Helena, lies in the region where the troubadour tradition originated and thrived—Packer ties the fairy tale story together with songs that reflect that tradition and the action of the play. Lavache, here presented as a philosopher/fool, is the road-weary troubadour who sings of the inner life, the dilemmas both for himself and the other characters in the play.
“All’s Well is a myth, a folk tale, where lots of unexpected things happen and people’s motivations seem to change over the course of it,” Packer says. “By rooting this in the colorful troubadour tradition, we’ve emphasized the through-line that will allow the audience to experience all the levels of the play.”
Song lyrics were selected by Packer, who drew from original troubadour works as well as Shakespeare’s texts. Barclay wrote original music, most of which is played live onstage by the hugely talented cast. Barclay, who composed the music for last season’s Antony and Cleopatra and this season’s The Mad Pirate and the Mermaid (opening at the Rose Footprint Theatre June 25 as part of the free Bankside Festival), says he sought inspiration from latter day inheritors of the troubadour tradition—such as Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan—rather than attempting to re-create an accurate period sound.
“The 14th century ballads and stories are part of a consciousness we’re less familiar with because we’re American, but as Americans we are now leaders in musical storytelling and as such our music is a part of world culture,” he says. “One of the hallmarks of Shakespeare & Company is celebrating the power of oral cultures. The troubadour tradition definitely does that.”
In this topsy-turvy tale, commoner Helena falls in love with the Countess of Rosillion’s son Bertram. As a reward for successfully treating the illness of the King of France, Helena is given the chance to wed the man of her choice. Protesting this arranged match, Bertram marries Helena but flees on their wedding night to go to the Italian wars and prove his manhood in battle. In a letter, he tells her he will never consummate the marriage unless she’s able to pry his ring from off his finger and bear a child with him. Helena and Bertram then go on separate journeys of discovery and redemption. Bertram is seduced to wild ways by one of the most outrageous characters in Shakespeare, Parolles; Helena eventually fools her unsuspecting husband—who is smitten with another—with the famous “bed trick,” in which she hoodwinks him into performing his marital office. Through shame and forgiveness, the lovers finally find each other again.
In the young lover Helen and her guardian, The Countess of Rosillion, Shakespeare has created two powerful and compelling female roles. In fact, this is the only play in Shakespeare’s body of work in which a female character speaks the opening lines.
“It’s the women who guide the action of the play,” Packer says. “It’s a bit like a gender-reversed Taming of the Shrew, which I think probably interested Shakespeare. Helen is an underdog and yet she’s brilliant, able to get everyone to do what she wants. Love really does win out at the end.”
