yale 2006 repertory theatre 40th anniversary across 2005-06 season theboards willpower! Yale Repertory Theatre’s production is part of all’s Shakespeare in American Communities: Shakespeare for a New Generation, sponsored by the National well Endowment for the Arts in cooperation with Arts Midwest. that Additional program support: ends Study Guide for well T S The Count of Rossillion has died. Following D :LGRZ DQG KHU GDXJKWHU 'LDQD :KHQ the funeral, his son Bertram leaves for Paris Helena learns that Bertram has been pursu- with Lord Lafew to serve the ailing King of ing the young Florentine maid, she, with the France. After Bertram departs, we learn :LGRZ¶VEOHVVLQJGHYLVHVDSODQ'LDQDZLOO that Helena—a young girl whom Bertram’s arrange an encounter with Bertram in which mother, the Countess of Rossillion, took into she will take him to bed in exchange for his her care after Helena’s father died—secretly prized ring, but when this encounter occurs, pines for him. Hoping to garner his affec- +HOHQD ZLOO WULFN %HUWUDP E\ WDNLQJ 'LDQD¶V tion, she follows Bertram to Paris. Helena’s place. father was a spiritual healer of great renown, 2QWKHEDWWOH¿HOG%HUWUDPKDVSURYHGKLP- and to gain the King’s favor, she will work her self a fearsome soldier, but the French Lords father’s ancient healing upon His Majesty. worry that Parolles’s cowardice threatens the The King welcomes Bertram to Paris security of the encampment. Bertram allows DQG FRQ¿UPV WKDW KLV GHDWK LV LPPLQHQW his troops to put Parolles to a test of honor in Unexpectedly, Helena which he is captured, appears in the King’s blindfolded, and tricked court and insists that Shakespeare’s Play: into revealing military she may be able to Bocaccio’s Tale secrets. When his cure the King. If she Very few of Shakespeare’s plays come blindfold is removed, succeeds, the King from stories that Shakespeare invented Parolles recognizes promises her the himself. Shakespeare derived All’s Well that Bertram’s men are hand in marriage of from a French adaptation of Bocaccio’s his captors and that any French lord she Italian novel, The Decameron. In this Bertram himself has desires. Helena’s been witness to his French adaptation, the young girl, Giletta cure works, and she shameful cowardice. de Narbon, heals the King of France and chooses Bertram. He Bertram—having tri- refuses, but the King asks to marry a young lord, Beltramo. XPSKHG ZLWK ³'LDQD´ forces Bertram to and having received accept her as his wife. On the heels of their word from his mother that Helena is dead— wedding ceremony, Bertram—with his knav- resolves to return to Rossillion. Meanwhile LVKDQGGLVKRQHVWFRPSDQLRQ3DUROOHV²ÀHHV the King (traveling from Paris) and Helena WR ¿JKW LQ WKH ,WDOLDQ ZDUV IRU WKH 'XNH RI DQG 'LDQD WUDYHOLQJ IURP )ORUHQFH DOO MRXU- Florence. ney to Rossillion. In a scheme arranged by Back in Rossillion, the Countess awaits word +HOHQD'LDQDVZHDUVWRWKH.LQJWKDWVKHLV of Helena’s fate with the King. But the letters Bertram’s wife. Bertram tries to escape these that come from Paris bear the terrible news of FKDUJHVEXWWKHUHYHODWLRQRIKLVLQ¿GHOLW\LV %HUWUDP¶VGLVKRQRUDEOHÀLJKWWR,WDO\+HOHQD inevitable. Helena, believed dead, bursts in returns to Rossillion with a note declaring and reveals that not only is she alive, but that Bertram’s challenge: until she shares his bed, Bertram took her into his bed in Florence— becomes pregnant with his child, and wins his QRW 'LDQD²ZKLFKVKH SURYHV E\ SURGXFLQJ prized ring, Bertram will not be her “husband.” Bertram’s prized ring and declaring that she Helena, now determined to win his love, sets is pregnant with Bertram’s child. Bertram— out for Italy disguised as a religious pilgrim. FRQIXVHG DPD]HG DQG DVKDPHG²DI¿UPV On the outskirts of Florence, Helena meets his love for Helena. ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. OR DOES IT? 2 COUNTESS OF ROSSILLION [ruh SILL yun] adoptive mother of mother of widowed mother of Bertram; foster mother to Helena; friend of the King of France f LORD LAFEW o advisor to d [luh FYOO] n e i trusted advisor to the King r f KING OF FRANCE goes to heal goes to serve ruler of France; dying of an incurable disease HELENA BERTRAM daughter of famed physician young Count of Rossillion; Gerard de Narbon; LOVES son of the Countess; adopted by the Countess; Helena’s brother by adoption in love with Bertram on up f s o te o d m d n o r e i f r f p DIANA l e h young, chaste Florentine girl; PAROLLES s t the object of Bertram’s wooing e [puh ROLL eez] g companion of Bertram; a rascal; his name means WIDOW CAPILET “words” )ORUHQWLQH'LDQD¶VPRWKHU LAVATCH DUKE OF FLORENCE FRENCH LORDS [luh VAHTCH] Commander of Florentine Army SOLIDIE clown of the Countess MARIANA THE DUMAINE BROTHERS [MAR ee AH nah] [dyoo MANE] Florentine friend of the Widow lords in service of the King T C 3 WIT, WILL, AND 6KDNHVSHDUH¶V SOD\V DUH ¿OOHG ZLWK VWURQJ \RXQJ female characters: Helena and Hermia in A PERSEVERRANCE: Midsummer Night’s Dream and Juliet in Romeo and HELENA AND DIANA Juliet DUHJRRGH[DPSOHV+HOHQDDQG'LDQDLQAll’s Welll follow in this tradition. Helena’s love for Bertram knows no bounds. She risks her life twice to pursue KLV ORYH²¿UVW DV VKH DWWHPSWV WR FXUH WKH .LQJ GHVSLWH WKH WKUHDW XSRQ KHU OLIH should she fail; second as she follows Bertram into the violent war zone surround- LQJ )ORUHQFH 'LDQD OLNHZLVH ULVNV HYHU\WKLQJ WR DLG +HOHQD LQ KHU TXHVW 6KH allows her virginity to be threatened in the nighttime encounter with Bertram plotted E\ +HOHQD ,Q WKH ¿QDO VFHQH 'LDQD WKHQ SXWV KHU IUHHGRP RQ WKH OLQH DV VKH HQJDJHVLQDZDURIZRUGVZLWKDNLQJ+HOHQDDQG'LDQDGHSHQGRQRQHDQRWKHU¶V PXWXDOWUXVW7KHLUGH¿DQFHLQWKHIDFHRISHULOWKHLURXWZLWWLQJRI%HUWUDPDQGWKHLU perseverance with the King earn them a place among Shakespeare’s most daring ...Helena returns heroines. to Rossillion WHAT WOULD YOU SACRIFICE FOR LOVE? ...a company of Florentine Soliders Many of Shakespeare’s plays have a clown of some sort: Feste in ALCONTENT AD Twelfth Night, Touchstone in As You Like It, and the Fool in King M , C , Lear are good examples. Clowns, like Lavatch in All’s Well, are AND CLOWN: usually in service to a landed lord or lady, but they are free-spirited BERTRAM, PAROLLES, philosophers, capable of saying what no other character has the foresight or freedom to say openly. AND LAVATCH Parolles, however, is no clown. His cowardice is real, and his revealing of military secrets goes beyond fooling. It could cost Bertram his life; or, worse yet, it could cost the Florentines the war. Parolles is a very real danger to the safety of his companions and, in the largest sense, to the moral fabric of the world in which he lives. But, nobody really trusts Parolles, and he has few weighty responsibilities. Bertram, on the other hand, is now the Count of Rossillion and wields the great power of the aristocracy. His open refusal of the King’s proposed marriage to Helena UHYHDOVKLVEUDVKQHVV7KH.LQJHQIRUFHVWKHPDUULDJHEXW%HUWUDPÀHHVWR)ORUHQFH LQVSLWH7KHUHKHSXUVXHVDVH[XDOUHODWLRQVKLSZLWKWKHFKDVWHPDLG'LDQDZKLFK KHWKHQSURFHHGVWRGHQ\WRWKH.LQJGHVSLWHGLUHFWFRQIURQWDWLRQZLWK'LDQD ADMITTEDLY, BERTRAM NEVER REVEALS MILITARY SECRETS OR PUTS HIS TROOPS IN DANGER LIKE PAROLLES, BUT HOW DO BERTRAM’S BRASHNESS AND IRRESPONSIBILITY THREATEN THE PEOPLE AROUND HIM? HAS PAROLLES’S LESS-THAN-ETHICAL INFLUENCE ...Bertram sets out for Florence CORRUPTED BERTRAM? DOES LAVATCH HELP TO HEAL THE WOUNDS CREATED BY THE OTHER ROGUES? 4 T T T H Shakespeare’s Contemporary PLACES OF WORSHIP BECOME PLACES OF THEATRE: Christopherp THE YALE REPERTORYY THEATRE Marlowe AND THE BLACKFRIARS THEATRE Born in 1564, Marlowe was RQHRIWKH¿UVWLQÀXHQWLDO The Blackfriars Elizabethan playwrights. Theatre in His plays centered on the Elizabethan London temptation of power and the showed many of damning of the soul. In his Doctor Faustuss (1588), Satan, in Shakespeare’s the form of Mephistopheles, tempts Faustus plays including into a life of earthly pleasures at the price of Othello and The his soul. Other plays include Tamburlaine the Tempest, but before Greatt and Edward II. it was converted into a theatre in 1596, it was a Shakespeare’s Contemporary monastery for Ben Dominican Friars. Jonson Born in 1572, Ben Jonson In 1975, the Yale Repertory Theatre wrote mostly comedies. renovated the Calvary Baptist Church into These plays are now called the theatre which will host All’s Well. “comedies of humour,” and focus on eccentric characters who fail to recognize their obsessive behavior. His play Volpone centers on a man so obsessed with accumulating wealth that he allows himself to be outwitted by one of his own servants, which causes him to be publicly shamed. Shakespeare’s Contemporary John Webster Notice the Born in 1580, John Webster is the most celebrated “hammerbeam,” ? Jacobean dramatist. which can be seen T AI in both theatres. The TR “Jacobean” means that he POR O STS wrote most of his plays after hammerbeam structure N EXI 1603, during the reign of allows the weight of a James I. His most famous play tall center arch to be is 7KH'XFKHVVRI0DO¿, the story of a woman supported by a short who is killed after her brothers forbid her to beam that is likewise marry. This kind of violence and madness supported by another marks all of Webster‘s plays. arched support. 5 T A BERTRAM AND HELENA Many of Shakespeare’s plays contain super- JOURNEY TO PARIS HELENA’S natural elements, such as the Ghost in Hamlet, FOLK-TALE the witches’ powerful view of the future in Macbeth, and Prospero’s magical powers in PARIS QUESTS The Tempest+HOHQD¶VFXULQJRIWKH.LQJ¶V¿V- KING DUMAINES tula in All’s Welll is likewise mystically inspired.