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William Shakespeare's

All’s Well That Ends Well – 2022

June 14th - October 29thTom Patterson TheatreTicket Info
Generally Mixed Reviews based on 6 Critics
  • mid 49% of shows in the 2022 season
6 Reviews
Comments

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This is a listing for the 2022 season. For the current 2023 shows click here.

Ontario Stage - Kelly Monaghan

Best of three Shakespeares

“I am pleased to report that Scott Wentworth’s crystal clear rendition of All’s Well is the best of the three Shakespeares being offered this season..

Everyone can handle the verse and can make the most archaic turns of phrase perfectly understandable without resorting to clumsy indicating. Rather than present a list of everyone, I will simply point to a few performances I found especially noteworthy.

Jessica B. Hill’s Helen, along with her turn as Lady Anne in Richard III, cements her claim to becoming one of the Festival’s most reliable leading ladies. André Sills is terrific as Lavatch, although I wondered if some in the audience puzzled over his position in the Countess’s household. His costume says “gardener” more than either “sexton” or “fool.”

Best of all is Rylan Wilkie as Parolles, his most prominent role in the seven seasons he has spent at the Festival. Under Wentworth’s direction, he makes the most of the opportunity and is clearly an audience favorite.”

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Stage Door - Christopher Hoile

Deliberately unhappy ending

“Wentworth’s production is filled with fine performances with one notable exception. His Helena is Jessica B. Hill, who grows from a shy young ward of the Countess of Rossillion into a strong woman ever more confident of her ability and worth. Hill speaks Shakespeare’s verse with a becoming naturalness, only occasionally speaking too quickly when Helena becomes excited. T”

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Toronto Star - Karen Fricker

Historical period

“Wentworth doesn’t try to solve the riddle by changing the ending or having the characters offer commentary through their performances on the ways they behave. He places the play in an historical period — the era of the First World War — that allows for lavish costumes (designed by Michelle Bohn) and arresting moments of stagecraft, and guides a company of actors in expertly acted and spoken performances.”

Read Full Review08/08/2022

Intermission Magazine - Aisling Murphy

Occasional brilliance

“…likely to be a treat for the Shakespeare fan in your life — a problem play fully realized with occasional brilliance in its direction — but the pitfalls of the story, which meander for a full three hours, make this one a tough watch for the more casual Billy Shakes viewer.

If you see it, perhaps re-read the play first, or at the very least the excellent programme notes — this All’s Well That Ends Well is at its best when freed of its somewhat misogynistic story, when its comedic delights have adequate room to breathe.”

Read Full Review08/02/2022

The Passionate Playgoer - Lynn Slotkin

Stunning work

“The real strength of this production is the acting…Sills’ acting with the elegant, regal Seana McKenna as the Countess Rossillion is to watch two masters sparing with bearing concealed delight. Stunning work.”

Read Full Review07/19/2022

The Globe and Mail - J. Kelly Nestruck

Unsatisfying

“Wentworth’s take, so confident and seemingly following the lead of the text and yet nevertheless being unsatisfying – especially in the cognitive dissonance of its unhappy happy endings for Parolles and Bertram (and Helen) – threatens to do the opposite and restore the play to obscurity.”

Read Full Review07/11/2022

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