All’s Well That Ends Well
Sound Design and Original Music
Performances: July/August 2018
Audience Count: 2,559
Performances: 17 (in rep w/ two other shows)
Description of company:
Great River Shakespeare Festival is located in Winona, Minnesota and operates in residence at Winona State University. GRSF was founded by directors Paul Barnes and Alec Wild in 2004. The festival employs Equity (union) actors and professional designers and directors from across the United States. GRSF produces a repertory season in the Fusillo Mainstage Theatre (412 seat proscenium with a thrust) and often stage an additional production in the Dorothy B. Magnus Black Box Theatre.
Playwright: William Shakespeare
Director: Rick Barbour
Lighting Design: Marissa Diaz
Costume Design: Janice Benning Lacek
Scenic Design: R. Eric Stone
Properties Supervisor: Connor McEvoy
Synopsis
"In All’s Well That Ends Well, a woman is given in marriage to the man she longs for, but, because she is of lower rank, he refuses to accept the marriage. It becomes her challenge to win his acceptance.
Helen, the daughter of a dead physician, secretly loves Bertram, the Count of Rosillion’s son. When the count dies, Bertram becomes a ward of the French king, who is dying of a fistula. Helen heals the ailing king, and he grants her wish to marry his ward. Bertram refuses to consummate the marriage and goes off to war, sending Helen a list of seemingly impossible conditions to be met before he will consider her his wife.
To meet his conditions, Helen substitutes herself for a woman whom Bertram desires, and sleeps with him. When false news comes that Helen is dead, Bertram faces the charge that he has killed her. Helen, now pregnant, reappears, saving Bertram and demonstrating that she has met his conditions. Bertram then acknowledges her.” from Folger Shakespeare Library
Design Statement
Grappling with All’s Well that Ends Well, considered one of Shakepeare’s “problem plays,” was a wonderful challenge. It was made wonderful by the steady hand and vision of director Rick Barbour and my collaborators on the production. I was drawn to two sonic ideas for All’s Well: resonances from bells and singing bowls and minimalist piano. I made great use of a felted piano virtual instrument when building the music for the production. There were additionally a few moments with snare drum when we needed a martial element. Bertram’s departure for instance starts with piano but the piano is ultimately subsumed by snare rolls. The resonant bells and singing bowls were featured during the funeral of Bertram’s father at the beginning of the play, the healing of the king, and the perhaps spiritual healing at the end of the play as Bertram contritely kneeled before each person he had wronged.
As this production performed in repertory with A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Shakespeare in Love, the sound system was meant for ultimate flexibility and a straightforward shift in changeovers.The focus of the company in those years was on the text and storytelling, and it was a joy to spend five summer seasons with GRSF.
“Matthew Tibbs' sound design provides music between scenes that convey the haunted tone of a gothic romance.”
Arthur Dorman - Talkin’ Broadway
Justin B. Hopkins - Shakespeare Bulletin
I struggle to imagine a performance of All’s Well that Ends Well that fully satisfies me, emotionally….However, Great River Shakespeare Festival came about as close as I can imagine...”