If you like Shakespeare in performance, the Globe's productions are unparalleled
I've been to the Globe three times, and watched most of their DVDs. I unabatedly recommend every one. To see Shakespeare performed at the Globe is how Shakespeare wanted his plays performed; I almost can't even begin to explain the magic of seeing them performed in this way, but I will try.
For example, Shakespeare's plays were performed in front of an audience of "groundlings"--low income common people who only paid a penny to stand in the yard and watch the play. All plays were performed at 2pm, as there were no artificial lights then--meaning that Shakespeare plays were never meant to be performed in a darkened theater--but instead where the actors could see and interact with the audience. A good example of this occurs in this production, when Parolles gestures towards a man in the crowd to see if he would be amenable to Helena for marriage. The crowd laughs, and you feel LIKE YOU'RE A PART OF THE PLAY, because you are. Shakespeare requires our imagination in a way that...
Entertaining but still a "problem play"
"All's Well that Ends Well" is not an easy play to like. Its heroine is plucky, but her judgment and even ethics are questionable; and its hero is immature, self-involved, duplicitous, and downright mean. In practical terms, to perform "All's Well" successfully entails to some degree having to save the play from itself, which The Globe Theater mostly accomplishes.
Ellie Piercy's Helena is passionate and cunning, though one understands why Bertram isn't flattered by her obsession for him; while Sam Crane succeeds (if that's the word) in making Bertram repugnant, if not villainous. Neither the pursuer nor pursued much win our hearts.
More fresh and vibrant are the older generation. Sam Cox plays a virile, blustery, and comically obtuse King of France. Michael Bertenshaw's Lafeu, an aging courtier, has a physical energy and bounce engagingly out of sync with his silver hair. And Janie Dee is smart, generous, and downright fetching as Bertram's mother. It would make...
Very well done play!
Need more to be said? enjoy. You will feel taken back to Shakespeare's time when Language WAS the special effect of choice. They can do some very much with a hand gesture or a smile or frown.. Its all beautiful work. Please try at least one of the Globe's many plays on DVD.. they are all wonderful. We have yet to be disappointed!
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