All's Well That Ends Well

Rating

: * * * *

Verdict

:

Hugely entertaining.

Long regarded as one of Shakespeare's "problem" plays, this is certainly an enigma: the work of a professional at his peak (his next three works were

Othello

,

Lear

and

Macbeth

), yet apparently not performed until 125 years after he died.

Its story, based on a tale in the Decameron, is problematic, too and not just because the main character travels through Italy to get from France to Spain. Near the end, Helena makes plain that the title doesn't mean what we understand by it. Her "Whate'er the course, the end is the renown," says the end justifies the means, a questionable idea in any century.

Helena (Terry) is a lowly servant who is awarded the hand of the noble Bertram (Rainsford) after miraculously curing the ailing king. Bertram marries and then spurns her and she must first trick and then shame him into honouring his word.

This may be seen as the work of a proto-feminist as feisty as

As You Like It's

Rosalind. But, being prepared to encourage his infidelity in order to win him, she risks looking craven - never mind that he's both a cad and, as we see before a line is spoken, an utter twit.

Elliott sweeps all that aside in favour of a deliciously playful approach that reminds us it's a fairytale - there are references to both Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella in the costume design - in which everything is redeemed. How else can Bertram go from indifference to pledging "to love her dearly, ever, ever dearly" in the space of a single line?

The production is the second in a series (after Racine's

Phedre

in July) of performances by the UK's National Theatre delivered live to cinema audiences in the northern hemisphere but here screened as digital projections.

It's a hugely entertaining version graced with acting that is never less than rock solid, though Terry's radiantly sincere Helena stands out and Hill, as the strutting "jackanapes with scarves" Parolles, channels David Brent in the show's most delicious performance. It's top-class Shakespeare filmed so unobtrusively it's almost better than being there.

Peter Calder

Cast

: Michelle Terry, George Rainsford, Clare Higgins, Oliver Ford Davies, Hasina Haque, Conleth Hill

Director

: Marianne Elliott

Running time:

210 mins including introductions and interval

Rating

: Exempt