review

The plays of Shakespeare bubble with vitality four centuries on in part because canny directors continue to tease new resonances out of them. Now Amanda Dehnert and company have pulled off the unlikely coup of making "All's Well That End's Well" into a comic, feel-good fairy tale/coming-of-age story...

...In the end, clever staging by Dehnert and acting by Comins suggest a redemption for Bertram that's not exactly in the script, just as the fairy tale demands. The result is nothing less than an interpretation of a problem play as a sunny fairy tale. Shakespearean strict constructionists may hate it.

Dehnert's story suggests that even a screwed-up ending may be a new beginning. She's made some bold conceptual choices that I won't give away. It's a provisional ending, which is to say very contemporary. The whole thing is fresh and incandescent and a lively illustration of why Shakespeare still matters.