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The play opened two weekends ago and will play again this
upcoming weekend on Friday and Saturday evening and Sunday
afternoon. Don’t miss it.
Helen and Bertram, the two young lovers in Shakespeare’s
All’s Well That Ends Well are certainly not the typical
love-struck duo that inhabit most of the romantic comedies
of Shakespeare’s age.
For one thing, Bertram does not particularly care for Helen
and spends most of the play – all of the play, save the last
scene – running away from the one for whom he seems
destined. That, of course, is the twist that Shakespeare
himself added to this ages-old love story. He further
distinguishes the tale by having the girl play the pursuer
in this play and making the boy the reluctant object of her
affections.
It works. Shakespeare always works, of course. And this
production really works; that’s what we have come to expect
from Glacity Theatre Collective.
At first glance, it may not be quite so obvious that the
production is destined to be as remarkable as it is.
The stage is a small circle in the great outdoors, enclosed
by a brick ring, in an amphitheatre at Maumee Valley Country
Day School. The backdrop is the natural wooded setting. The
stage itself contains a small wooden bench. In the distance,
once the music is turned off to allow the play to start, we
can hear odd bits of the traffic noise from Reynolds Avenue.
No matter. This wonderful ensemble company of actors makes
the ambient noise disappear and the director incorporates
the outdoor setting into the action in marvelous fashion.
Cornel Gabara is the director of this particular play and
the artistic director for the company. He has done a
remarkable job not only with the use of the space but also
with the pacing of the play. It sings right along from scene
to scene, from stage to woods to the amphitheatre slopes.
Gabara hasn’t just adapted the play to his surroundings, he
has made the surroundings an integral part of the action.
Gabara is also blessed by being able to work with an
admirable group of actors in the company’s first stab at the
Bard.
Gordon James as Bertram and Nikki Soldner as Helena strike
just the right notes as the pair of young lovers who don’t
spend a lot of time loving. They have only a few scenes
together and those are comprised mainly of Helena chasing
and Bertram running away – even to war to avoid doing the
bidding of his king.
The king, indebted to Helena for curing his ailment has – as
she asked in payment – ordered Bertram to marry the lass.
In the end, of course, the lovers are joined and everything
ends well … as one might have anticipated.
Dave DeChristopher as Parolles, Ben Pryor as the
clown/Mariana and Pam Tomassetti as both the steward and the
widow, provide the comic relief. All three do so in
surpassing manner.
The rest of the performers are equally impressive: Risa Beth
Cohen as the ever-present Lafeu; Holly Monsos as the
Countess (Bertram’s mother) and Kevin Hayes as the King (as
well as the Duke and the Gentleman).
The company is a blend of Equity actors – DeChristopher and
Tomassetti, area stage veterans such as Monsos, Pryor, Hayes
and Cohen and relative newcomers such as James and Soldner.
Soldner is a recent University of Toledo Theatre and film
graduate and James will graduate later this year from the
same department.
This company of stars has yet another one – a true newcomer
in Corinne Natyshak, a senior at Notre Dame Academy who
plays the part of Diana, and more than holds her own in this
group of accomplished actors.
All’s Well that Ends Well
opened at Maumeee Valley on Saturday, June 13. It will
continue this upcoming weekend – Friday and Saturday at 7
p.m. and Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at
the box office and the Sunday performance is a “pay what you
can” special.
For more information on Glacity, go to the website at
www.glacity.org.
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