William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays in all, and if you’ve been hanging around with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company for its 16-year run, you’ve seen a lot of them. But this week is the first time around for a comedy of yearning and desire, All’s Well That Ends Well.
Director Brian Isaac Phillips has set the story in Europe near the end of World War I. “Several European nations are at war,” he says, “and the shifting alliances of that war affect many of the characters. The alliances and conflicts provide a familiar context for the audience, marked by the same mood of ambiguity and unease that pervades the play.”
That said, the play is considered a romantic comedy: An unwilling prince is forced into a marriage he does not desire and treats his wife badly, so she schemes to win him back. A story dominated by female characters is unusual for Shakespeare, and those women drive the plot with some very manipulative behavior. The female roles are played by CSC veteran Kelly Mengelkoch (2009 CEA nominee) as Helena, a woman of modest birth who wins a marriage above her station; Sherman Fracher as the Countess of Rousillon; and Amy Warner and Sara Clark as a mother-daughter tandem who help with some scheming. Christopher Guthrie is the Countess’ son who tries to avoid his marital responsibilities by running away to fight in the war.
Through Nov. 15. $20-$26. Show times and venue details are here.
This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2009.
