Sunday, August 9, 2009

Short review of 'Alls Well that Ends Well' National Theatre, London July 2009

He really should have called this one 'Much Ado About Nothing', not 'All's Well that Ends Well' (which also kind of gives away the ending..!)
Not one of the Bard's best perhaps, bit of a flimsy plot, and no-one I've spoken to has any idea why the heroine would be interested in that chap, with events all seeming a bit contrived.
But, I hadn't been to a Shakespeare play in quite a while, so it was nice to hear the language again, and the main auditorium in The National is a superb venue.
And, there was at least one top notch performance, as the fellow who played the King was really good, huge big beard (naturally) and a powerful vocal delivery. Just like you'd expect a Shakespearian King to be.
The rest of the cast were a bit ho-hum though. As were the costumes. It was supposed to be a period costume production, but some of the cast were wearing watches and in one scene the females all wore American 1950s style dresses! And at times they were hard to hear.
So, a bit patchy, but mildly enjoyable nonetheless.
I should point out that the set design was quite good, so at least I'm finishing on a positive note!