'All's Well That Ends Well' review — Shakespeare's problem play is solved by this spirited, enlightening production

Read our review of All's Well That Ends Well, starring Ruby Bentall, Kit Young and William Robinson, now in performances at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to 4 January 2025.

Shakespeare’s “problem play” play All’s Well That Ends Well was last staged at the candlelit Sam Wanamaker in 2018 in a production by Caroline Byrne that emphasised its dark fairy-tale-like qualities and, according to London Theatre’s review, offered “a properly female perspective” befitting the #MeToo movement. We move into the light with this crisp and spirited new staging by Chelsea Walker that also emphasises the play’s comedy and absurdity.

The opening sequence begins in noir territory. The hero and heroine (so to speak) Bertram and Helen (changed from Helena), dressed identically in black, face each other and the ensemble appears, similarly dressed in black with dark glasses, ninja-style.

The production’s masterstroke is the casting of the radiant Ruby Bentall (best known as Poldark’s lovely Verity) as Helen, who has such nimble stage presence and brilliantly conveys the dichotomy of being childlike yet world-weary.

The heart can’t help who it loves, however undeserving its recipient might be, and Bentall offers the sense of Helen having loved Bertram since childhood and being unable to give up that infatuation. She doesn’t do anything by half measures, disguising herself in a nun’s habit (while applying lipstick) as she sets out on her mission to sleep with her husband without him realising that it’s her.

Also key here is Bertram’s ambivalent sexuality: Kit Young indicates that his womanising could well be an act. When Bertram attempts to woo Diana (Georgia-Mae Myers) by serenading her with mellow jazz under her balcony, there’s a sense that this is his idea of how it’s supposed to be done, rather than his heart being in it. William Robinson is eye-catching as effete soldier Paroles, the one for whom Bertram truly has feelings, with a touch of Cabaret’s Emcee about him.

Siobhan Redmond’s warmly maternal Countess of Rousillon, who loves her ward Helen more than her own son, is clearly a good egg; Richard Katz’s self-pitying King of France indicates that many of his symptoms are psychological rather than physical; and Catrin Aaron is a briskly non-nonsense Widow of Florence (mother of Diana).

The candelabras could be used to more varied effect befitting the changes in tone, especially with all the deceit and half-truths that run through the play. The vocalising by soprano Angela Hicks (score by Simon Slater) is a touch affected, though the second half opens with a striking military tattoo led by Robinson’s Paroles (“A good drum but a naughty orator”).

It’s a production that’s somewhat inconsistent stylistically, but in terms of telling the story and enlightening the characters’ motivations, it does very well indeed – and with such tricksy material to work with, that’s no mean feat.

All's Well That Ends Well is at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse to 4 January 2025. Book All's Well That Ends Well tickets on London Theatre.

Photo credit: All's Well That Ends Well (Photos by Marc Brenner)