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The BMDS Summer Shakespeare production All's Well That Ends Well?
currently playing at the Daylesford Theatre provides a thoroughly modern
and cynically amused commentary on a number of traditional themes, the
chief one being marriage. However, virginity, lust, dishonour and deceit
all interweave throughout the play. The original script has been
extensively adapted and modernised by Barbara Jones to achieve dialogue
that holds the attention, and action that moves along with good pace. At
just about two hours long, the show is a comfortable, comprehensible
summer evening¹s entertainment for all ages to enjoy.
At the play¹s opening Bertram, a teenager newly made Count of Rossillion
following the death of his father, is summoned to the Court of the Queen
of France to pay his respects. Helena, the ward of Bertram¹s mother, is
the orphaned daughter of a famous physician. She has a crush on Bertram
and by curing the hypochondriac Queen¹s Œdisease¹ she wins the
unsuspecting Bertram as a husband.
The horrified Bertram and his disreputable companion, Parolles, run away
from France to the Tuscan Wars where Bertram wins renown as a soldier but
disgraces himself in the lustful pursuit of the maid Diana. Helena, true
to form, pursues Bertram to Florence and purchases the help of a widow,
Diana¹s mother, to try again to trick Bertram into becoming her husband in
fact as well as name. The final scene sees the Queen visiting Bertram¹s
mother at Rossillion where all the players gather before her as their
plots unravel and All Ends Well ... maybe.
Matt Wedlich plays a carelessly arrogant, but painfully naive, Bertram
against Arielle DeSilva as a scheming, self-centred Helena; both give
wonderfully powerful performances and command the stage whenever they
appear. Paige Hallett as Parolles has a difficult task to deal with the
slightly curious dynamic between herself and Bertram since the part has
been transposed from male to female, and she creates more of a lovable
scamp rather than a lying rogue (which may be a fault of the script), but
she gives a finely-judged performance, particularly in the scene where her
lies are unmasked. 
Laura Bardgett as the Queen seems to be struggling a little with the
demands of delivering Shakespearean dialogue but compensates well with
plenty of visual humour.
There was also plenty of humour and clever word play in the scenes between
Bertram¹s mother, the Countess, played faultlessly by Liz Knight, and her
Fool, a looming and lugubrious Ben Winfield. Two French Lords (Latisha
Lister and Deborah Smith-Joell) provide an entertaining commentary on the
action, ably assisted by their plodding soldiers (Cotty Outerbridge and
Nic Trollope). Claudia Hall is a charming Diana ‹ we can entirely
understand why she captivates Bertram - and Evelyn MacGregor is more than
convincing as Diana¹s mother and business manager.
 Nick Fagundo makes a welcome return to the stage as Lafew, a French
courtier, handling the demands of his speedy wheelchair with confidence,
and giving his character the required dignity whilst having a twinkle in
his eye for the ladies.
The set for the play is very simple but effective, and with the brilliant,
jewel-tone costumes, the focus is all on the actors who create gorgeous
displays of colour, especially in the final scene.
An unusual aspect is the frequent use of wheels ‹ many of the cast use
chairs on various sorts of wheels which cleverly compensates for the lack
of any fixed furniture on the set, and even some of the props appear on
wheels ‹ the skateboard was definitely a surprise.
Barbara Jones adapted the script, directed the show, and created the
costumes, props, and stage setting and, for the most part, her vision of
this difficult Shakespeare play is successful.
She has made it colourful and amusing to watch with a plot and language
that we can understand, but some of her characters don¹t quite fit ‹ this
can be a problem with a modernised Shakespeare, but it does not detract
from the overall fun of the show.

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