All’s Well That Ends Well 

Reviewed by Gray Palmer 
Independent Shakespeare Company 
Through April 22 

RECOMMENDED 

Good news again from Independent Shakespeare Company: Their new studio theater in Atwater Village has opened with a brilliant production of All’s Well That Ends Well.

Helena (a radiant April Fritz), the orphaned daughter of a great physician, has become the ward of Countess de Rousillon (a great performance by director Melissa Chalsma). Helena is secretly in love with the young Count Bertram (haughty and fierce Evan Lewis Smith). Helena has grown up with him — and we can presume, given what unfolds, that she sees much more in him than his actions will reveal. The elder Count de Rousillon has recently died, and now the King of France (the very good René Thornton, Jr.) has sent for young Bertram to attend him at court.

The king is very ill. Helena, with the Countess’s blessing, follows Bertram to Paris with a plan. She has studied reports of the king’s illness, and as the student of her father, she is confident that she can cure him. But sick people are not nice and the king will only submit to treatment when Helena wagers her life on its success. To tip the scales, the king agrees, if healed, to arrange the marriage of her choice. And that’s just the beginning of all the trouble.

The beauty of director Chalsma’s staging might make you wonder why there was ever any fuss about the problem of this “problem comedy”. The main issue seems to have been an objection to the power of feminine agency. Descriptions of the play tend to be weird. There’s not much documentary evidence of early production history. Nineteenth century decorum was shocked by it. Twentieth century scholars and popularizers don’t rate it highly: Asimov says it isn’t fun; Auden says it doesn’t come off. But we’re past all that, aren’t we?

Or perhaps we’ve caught up with All’s Well. Mars is in retrograde over this story. Martial honor — which has nothing to do with justice — is subverted or eclipsed. But, given all the masculine foolishness on display here, transformation, by dangerous inches, is yet possible. In the main narrative of All’s Well we have an impossible love, a fairy-tale wager, a trial by a set of hateful conditions, the much-copied plot device of the bed-trick (supposititious erotics!), a mysterious exchange of rings, and a brilliant concatenation of riddles. What could be more fun? We’re more than ready to enjoy this suspenseful version of Beauty Victorious.

It’s a great pleasure to see this company up close in their new intimate studio space. All the performers are fine, and the principal comic characters are especially good: the braggart Parolles (Daniel Jimenez — he’s also a good guitarist), brought low by an elaborate practical joke, and in a bit of stunt casting, a cross-dressing LaVache the Clown (the remarkable Kalean Ung — every moment of her stage time is a delight). Also in the cast are Kendell Byrd and Ata Farhadi, both wonderful.

The very good costumes are by Ruoxuan Li; lighting by the reliable Bosco Flanagan; expert musical direction and sound design by Dave Beukers. There was no program credit for set design — but the opening night audience may have noticed that company manager David Melville’s hands were covered with paint.

ISC Studio, 3191 Casitas Ave., #130, Atwater Village; Thu., Fri., Sat. at 7:30pm and Sun at 2pm; through April 22. (818) 710-6306 or www.iscla.org. Running time: two hours with intermission.