The All’s Well That Ends Well production at The Globe was memorable performance in many ways. The most obvious reason is that it was performed in Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language that is native to the West Indian region of Gujarat. This change meant that the entire cast was Indian and that the names and places within the play were changed. Though the director managed to stay close to the original story, the major additions to the script were the songs. Music is normal in Bollywood, Indian film industry, so that fact that songs were added was not surprising. Even though I could not understand the songs, I knew that they were informative about the characters’ inner thoughts. The importance of the songs though was when they were sung and who was singing.
The play opened and closed with a song and dance. Many Bollywood movies have an opening dance that sets the scene of the production, and this song seemed to do the same. Shakespeare wrote many prologues to his plays, but he did not write one for All’s Well That Ends Well so the addition is noticeable. The opening dance also gives the audience a glimpse of the entire cast for the play which was a useful introduction. The production also ends with a song and dance, but it is common for performances at the Globe to end in a jig. Both of these songs were performed by the entire cast and acted as the bookends for the play. The songs that occur during the performance though help to carry the plot of the play, even though Shakespeare did not add the songs.
Heli, the Helena character, has the majority of the songs. The first song she is given occurs after she is first on stage with Bharatram, the Bertram character, and she sings about love. Since it opened with Heli singing about love, I wanted this production to end with me believing that Heli and Bharatram were in love. It also set up Heli’s next song which occurs after her wedding. She sings about how marriage and love can turn a girl into a woman, which shows her naivety because the audience saw how Bharatram reacted to the wedding. In the second half Heli’s songs take a more somber mood. She sings reassurances to herself about Bharatram’s impossible conditions and to tell Alkini, the Diana character, about her happiness with the marriage and the pain of rejection. Both of these songs are contrasting with the first half because Heli is no longer happy, and it causes the audience to want her to be happy again. Thus the majority of Heli’s songs cause the audience to want her happiness; because the songs convey her emotions in way that even audience members who don’t speak Gujarati can understand. The only song of Heli’s that did not have subtitles to explain occurred during the bed trick. I did not know what she was singing about, but the song seemed well placed to keep the scene from becoming graphic. Heli’s songs are ways for the audience to understand her emotions, because the tone of the song affects how it is sung so everyone can understand the emotions of love, happiness, and pain.
Bharatram and the King each have a song that is sung when Bharatram and Parbat arrive in Bombay. The King’s song is about his past power and glory, but is halted when he begins coughing due to his sickness. This sets up for when Heli comes to heal him, because the king is then able to sing the entire song. I found this to be a useful way of conveying the king’s sickness and power that he still possesses. The song that Bharatram sings with Parbat and the servant is about the wonders of the city. I thought this was interesting because it does portray Bharatram as a country boy as opposed to the noble that Shakespeare wrote him to be. The song is important for Bharatram’s characterization though because his interest in the city supports why he does not want to marry Heli. I think this song helped me understand his youth better, because I could empathize with being new to the city and I wouldn’t want someone to tie me down either. Thus Bharatram’s main song actually gives the audience an explanation for his eventual rejection of Heli.
Alkini is the opposite of Heli because rather than have songs, she dances. The first time the audience sees her, Alkini is wearing a mask as she dances on stage. She also dances the first time that Bharatram sees her. This emphasizes the differences between Heli and Alkini in a way that is consistent with the rest of the play. Dance is another way that Bollywood movies convey information so having Alkini dance was normal for the genre. I think it also added to the production itself because singing and dancing are so intertwined that having the two younger females in the production use different methods of communication was useful to show their different goals.
The songs and dances helped with characterization throughout All’s Well That Ends Well when I couldn’t understand the language being used. Heli’s songs showed her to be a young woman in love, the King’s song characterized him as an older man not ready to leave behind his past accomplishments, and Bharatram’s song demonstrated that he was a young, ambitious man. Alkini’s dances characterized her as beautiful, but since she was always dancing alone she has independence. I think that the songs and dances made it possible for an audience who did not understand the language to connect to the characters because the conveyed the basic personalities for the characters in a simplified way. Though I do not think that Shakespeare expected the additions of the songs and dances, I think that they helped the characters in this production.