Critics remain unsure whether or not All’s Well That Ends Well can be categorized as a comedy due to the seemingly unhappy end for Bertram at the hands of the manipulative Helena. A director of this play can choose to create a production in which a genuine transformation occurs within the characters or create a rendition in which Bertram helplessly accepts his unwanted fate. Sunil Shanbag chooses to place All’s Well That Ends Well in Guajarati without subtitles, and the play effectively and impressively loses all of its ambiguity. While Shanbag possesses at least two greatly varying cultural audiences, both groups leave the theater believing in Bertram and Helena’s love because each character significantly changed throughout the course of the play. Because this plot would seem more culturally acceptable to his Indian audiences, he can guide them through the play using humor and music, but since many of the English seekers would still find the ending unsettling, Shanbag utilizes extremely simple plot explanations for each scene and portrays both characters as foolish, naïve, and in need of great personal growth. Ultimately, Shanbag glazes over the uncertainty in this play through manipulating the text so that each culturally distinct audience identifies Bharatram and Heli as naïve and disillusioned at the beginning of the play rather than the relatively flat characters which appear in Shakespeare’s text.
Through characterizing Bharatram as a young man who desires adventure rather than a man mourning his father who solemnly goes off to war, Shanbag creates a subtle plot switch which can be understood by both cultures. While at first this may seem like a relevant, modern alteration to send Bharatram to the city instead of war, this change is significant because it alters the textual understanding of Bertram as a brave and dutiful son. In the text, Bertram’s first words demonstrate his respectfulness and sense of responsibility because he decides to leave his mother in mourning in order to fulfill his duty to the king. He tells his mother, “And I am going, madam, weep o’er my father’s death anew; but I must attend his majesty’s command, to whom I am now in ward, evermore in subjection” (1.1 2-5). This speech demonstrates Bertram’s loyalty to both his family and king. Because Bertram says “evermore in subjection” he appears to completely accept his duty to the king. He fails to complain or protest as he informs his mother of his departure. Rather than have Bertram go off to war as in the text, Shanbag chooses to send him off to the big city. In this decision, Bharatram loses all of his maturity and instead becomes a selfish adolescent who desires to forge his own passage in life. This alteration in Bharatram’s character, in the beginning, sets the play up for his transformation and eventual unambiguous love for Heli.
In addition to the textual shift in Bertram’s character, the actor portrays Bertram as a foolish and selfish man who remains oblivious to the naïve Heli’s love through his theatricality. Rather than appear noble and brave, Bharatram exudes over-confidence and ignorance as he says good bye to Heli. He stands with his feet wide apart with his hands on his hips and chin up. He wears traditional Indian clothing and remains completely oblivious to Heli’s love. Her naivety can be understood through her clenched fists and the way she looks up at Bharatram as he discusses his departure. His eyes become comically big throughout the discussion while Heli appears pathetic and subservient as she watches him throughout the scene. The caption states, “she hopes he will come back” and eventually Heli allows her emotions to surface once she begins to cry. At this point, Bharatram angrily paces and walks around the stage while Heli eventually holds her head and gasps her throat as if extremely despondent due to his exit. Throughout the second portion of the scene, the caption reads, “he seems oblivious to her feelings of love.” The captions in this scene reduce Heli to a hopelessly love-struck girl and Bharatram to a stupid and oblivious boy. The Guajarati speakers in the audience laughed throughout the scene which confirmed Bharatram’s absurdity and Heli’s genuine efforts to reveal her love. Through using theatrical humor and simple subtitles, the Gujarati and English speaking audience viewed this couple as adolescent figures in need of experience and intellectual growth.
Similarly to Bertram’s character, Shanbag creates a textual and theatrical deviation from Shakespeare’s work through both the actress’s portrayal of Heli and the subtitles presented in her initial scenes. Rather than appear as a pragmatic heroine, Shanbag presents Heli as a wide-eyed virgin oblivious to the realities of love. In Shakespeare’s text, Helena and Parolles enter into a witty repartee about virginity after she declares her love for Bertram in a heart-felt soliloquy, but Shanbag chooses to turn this speech into a happy song. She appears the epitome of girlish love as she twirls around the stage, looks around longingly, and lies dreamily on the stage. Happy music prevails throughout this song while musicians sit on stage, also in traditional Indian attire, while Heli dances alone. The caption in this scene states, “Heli sings about the awakening of her heart to love.” This parallels the content of her speech in Shakespeare’s text, but the conversation which immediately ensues is extremely different.
In the production, the subtitle throughout the scene between Heli and Parolles reads, “Heli is offended by his insensitivity and crude views on love.” However, in the text, Heli candidly responds to Parolles and accepts his lewd comments through asserting that Bertram will take her virginity. She states, “Not my virginity yet…/There shall your master have a thousand loves,/ A mother, and a mistress, and a friend,/ a phoenix, captain, and an enemy,/ A guide, a goddess, and a sovereign,/ A counselor, a traitress, and a dear” (1.1 165-170). This is the first speech within the conversation between Parolles and Helena which is spoken in verse. This reflects Helena’s heightened sense of awareness and controlled use of her words. Unlike the hopelessly romantic girl Shanbag presents, Helena confidently asserts her plan to seduce Bertram through any means possible. Through stating “there shall your master have a thousand loves” in reference to her virginity, she accepts Parolles’s crude discussion and certainly fails to be offended by his insensitivity as described in the subtitle. If anything, Helena illustrates an insensitive character as she lists all the negative and positive relationships she will have with Bertram. The extensiveness of this list of roles represents her desire to gain Bertram through any means possible.
I enjoyed this production of All’s Well That Ends Well because I believe it took a bold interpretation of the text which eliminated the ambiguity at the end. Bharatram and Heli developed into characters amidst the modern Indian back drop. The simple lighting and staging used throughout the production augmented the lighthearted approach to the play. The mixture in costumes between western and traditional Indian clothing seemed to mirror the transitions within the characters which Shanbag desired to present. Through simplifying the scenes to a couple of sentences, Shanbag guided the audience to see Heli and Bharatram as young and selfish characters who would grow to love each other in a less naïve way. While it might have been nice to have more of the script translated, the upbeat tone of the musical pieces accentuated the romantic comedy feel Shanbag sought out for the end of the play and he effectively turned a problem play into a romance between two selfish characters who matured and found love.