Marianne Elliott directs Shakespeare's ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, continuing the Travelex ?10 Tickets season in the Olivier Theatre, opening on 28 May.
The cast includes Oliver Ford Davies, Clare Higgins (as the Countess of Rossillion), Janet Henfrey, Conleth Hill (Parolles), Sioned Jones, Elliot Levey, Brendan O'Hea, George Rainsford (Bertram), Michelle Terry (Helena) and Michael Thomas. The production will be designed by Rae Smith, with lighting by Peter Mumford, music by Adam Cork and sound by Ian Dickinson.
The feisty but lowly Helena falls in love with Bertram, a haughty count. To gain his hand she is set a string of impossible tasks. Even if accomplished, they can hardly guarantee his love. He refuses to bed her and yet says he'll only be hers if she bears his child; and he lusts after another. Nevertheless, our heroine, whether wisely or no, refuses to give him up.
Set against a background of sexism, snobbery and a battle between the generations, All's Well That Ends Well turns fairytale logic on its head in a bittersweet story; this is the first production of the play at the National.
Clare Higgins' recent work at the National includes Jocasta in Oedipus, Harold Pinter's Landscape and A Slight Ache, Major Barbara, and Vincent in Brixton, for which she won the Olivier, Evening Standard and Critics' Circle Awards for Best Actress. Her recent theatre credits also include Hecuba (Olivier Award for Best Actress) and Phaedra at the Donmar Warehouse, and Death of a Salesman and The Night of the Iguana in the West End.
Conleth Hill has recently appeared at the National in Philistines, The Seafarer (also on Broadway) and Democracy; he won Olivier Awards for Stones in his Pockets and The Producers in the West End. George Rainsford previously appeared at the National in Chatroom/Citizenship; film and television includes Doctors, Waking the Dead and Wild Target. Michelle Terry is currently appearing in England People Very Nice at the Olivier; her stage credits also include The Crucible, The Winter's Tale, Pericles and Days of Significance (RSC), Blithe Spirit (Peter Hall Company), Love's Labour's Lost (Shakespeare's Globe) and The Man Who Had All The Luck (Donmar Warehouse).
Marianne Elliott is an Associate Director at the National, where her productions include Harper Regan, Saint Joan, Pillars of the Community (for which she won the Evening Standard Award for Best Director), Mrs Affleck and War Horse (co-directed with Tom Morris); for the RSC, she directed Much Ado About Nothing. -- www.nationaltheatre.org.uk
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