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Shakespeare on Boston Common 2011 : Commonwealth Announces New Season
And the winner is ..... All's Well That Ends Well?
CommShakes continues to build itself back up to prominence after the disastrous Citibank years. I love going to free Shakespeare on the Common, I think it's one of life's great pleasures. I've seen all of their shows in recent years, excepting only their Hamlet where I mistakenly waited until the last weekend and got rained out :(. So each year I await the announcement of their new main show. This year, it's All's Well.
Here's why I'm a bit troubled by that choice. I understood when they reinvented themselves with Comedy of Errors a few years ago - budget, mostly. But just recently I started the What Play Should I Tackle Next? thread where I listed 7 plays - some minor, some I simply haven't experienced yet. All's Well was one of them. Every play got two votes - except for two. Merry Wives, and All's Well. This concerns me, I worry that audiences less familiar with Shakespeare will never have heard of this one, and simply won't care.
What do we think? If you only get one Shakespeare in the park show a year would you be happy that it's All's Well That Ends Well?
1 comment:
All's Well has two distinguishing features.
One: It's the only comedy I haven't read. I've done all the others, including Two Noble Kinsmen. I will get to All's Well one of these days, I just haven't yet.
Two: It's a play whose title is far more famous than any quotations from the characters or details of the plot.
I'm sure, as with any play, they'll be able to mount an enjoyable production. But yes, it is a peculiar choice.
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