Bring your own chair: Shakespeare’s ‘All’s Well that Ends Well’ is touring Twin Cities parks

One of the first Shakespeare plays I ever saw was at the Rose Garden in Minneapolis with my family We spread out our blanket on the grass and watched local actors bring one of Shakespeare s history plays to life I was at an age where I didn t fully understand the plot but the broad acting style and emotional potency pulled me right into the experience The actors passed the hat at the end and one joked Please give because then we can buy brand new costumes For certain reason I thought it was hilarious because their costumes were indeed a bit shabby but they fit the world of the play I ve been a fan of Shakespeare and other sorts of theater in the park ever since Minnesota s brutal winters make outdoor theater especially wonderful We have such precious little time in these glorious months and I sort of hate to be inside on a warm summer night with a breeze Thus I identified myself feeling the wind in my hair in the past few days as my partner and I biked along Minneapolis Grand Rounds toward Lake of the Isles where Classical Actors Ensemble held a performance of their touring production of All s Well That Ends Well directed by Joseph Papke with World War II-esque costumes by Molly Smith My brother had lawn chairs already set up for us and we nestled in to see the show with him and my theater-loving niece and nephew The fresh rains made for quite a sparse puddles but the troupe managed to find a large enough patch of dry land for the audience to settle into their Shakespearean performance amid the trees From the MinnPost archives Shakespeare history plays at the Guthrie in As one of Shakespeare s matter plays All s Well That Ends Well is a bit of a head scratcher of a story with particular fairly creepy elements Like in Measure for Measure another challenge play there s an key plot point where two women switch places just before sexual intercourse so that the man they are entangling is bedding a different person than he intends Particular of Shakespeare s tragedies are as relevant this day as when they were written Hamlet with its probing scrutiny into grief and despair is timeless and who can watch Romeo and Juliet without being swept away by its tragic romance Various of Shakespeare s comedies with all of their goofy mistaken identities gender-bending revelry and strong female characters can soar for contemporary audiences with the right director Shakespeare s All s Well That Ends Well features Henry Zavos as Bertram John Goodrich as King of France and Catherine Podlesak as Helena Credit Classical Actors Ensemble All s Well That Ends Well has Helena whose soliloquies rival those of Rosalind in As You Like It and Viola in Twelfth Night In the central role in CAE s production Catherine Podlesak handled the monologues well and brought an sly innocence to the role even when her character does things that make her quite unlikeable To borrow a phrase from new times she s a bit of a sex pest Low-born but extremely intelligent Helena falls in love with Bertram Henry Zavos the son of her surrogate mother the Countess played warmly by Tinne Rosenmeier After her father dies Helena grows up in the Countess household and lusts after her adopted brother ew For his part he s just really not that into her As the daughter of a clinician Helena uses her keen knowledge of medicine to cure the King of France played with the measured presence of John Goodrich of a mysterious illness As her reward she gets to choose anyone to marry and she picks Bertram who escapes her by running off to war Helena follows him and connives a way to entrap him involving swapping with the lovely Diana Maya Pantanowitz performing with no-nonsense zest in the dead of night and messing about with two pairs of rings that prove to be evidence of her scheme later Catherine Podlesak as Helena and John Goodrich as the King of France in All s Well That Ends Well Credit Sheila Regan Bertram is a bit of a sex pest himself with all his false promises to Diana In the end Helena s manipulations somehow win over Bertram and everybody seems to be happy I guess I m inclined to root for the villain buffoon of the story Parolles He s a lecherous coward and two-faced but at least I didn t feel I was supposed to believe he was one of the good characters He reveled in his villainy and did so humorously which made me like him more Tom Burr s Parolles steals plenty of scenes with his swaggering cowardice and sharp wit Burr seemed to add an ad-lib or two reminding me of the not-too-serious tone I ve inevitably loved in the outdoor Shakespeare genre As Bertram Zavos gets one of the best lines of the plays after he finds out Parolles true character I could endure anything before but a cat and now he s a cat to me The line s weirdly specific disdain made me laugh out loud Justin Hooper s set is made up of an assortment of panels with brightly colored geometric shapes They reminded me of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian with a bit looser less clean style They seemed to offer a commentary about the hastily strung together order of the play with its vague adherence to morality Tom Burr as Parolles and Catherine Podlesak as Helena in All s Well That Ends Well All s Well That Ends Well may be messy but it s also got funny moments and poetic meditations The production tours Twin Cities parks through July Bring a blanket and or chair pack a picnic and take in Shakespeare under the open sky The next performances take place at the following locations times Thursday July at p m North Loop Green North th St Minneapolis Friday July at p m Highland Bridge Civic Plaza Bohland Ave St Paul Saturday July at p m Lake of the Isles Newton Ave S W Lake of the Isles Pkwy Minneapolis Sunday July at p m Normandale Lake Bandshell W th St Bloomington Thursday July at p m St Clement s Church Portland Ave St Paul Friday July at p m Wolfe Park Amphitheater Monterey Dr St Louis Park Saturday July at p m Lake of the Isles Newton Ave S W Lake of the Isles Pkwy Minneapolis Sunday July at p m MN Humanities Center Ivy Ave E St Paul Free reservations donations encouraged More information here The post Bring your own chair Shakespeare s All s Well that Ends Well is touring Twin Cities parks appeared first on MinnPost