All’s Well That Ends Well

Seattle Shakespeare is on an impressive roll: their productions now consistently feature some of the most outstanding acting found anywhere in the Northwest. A highly skilled cast is a necessity when it must handle Shakespeare’s prickly All’s Well That Ends Well. The rarely produced show is labeled a “problem play” because it features a naturalistic context in which social issues are debated. Yet Shakespeare insisted on grafting onto this framework a number of comedic elements borrowed from the ancient Italian Commedia dell’arte, as he includes stock characters and some absurd “bed play.” That the play’s hodgepodge of elements blend into a wonderful entertainment is all due to a marvelously adept cast deftly handled by director Victor Pappas.