The Royal Shakespeare Company has released a new publicity image, rehearsal photos and video trailer for its forthcoming production of All’s Well That Ends Well which runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon between 16 August – 8 October 2022.
The new publicity image – which picks up on this production’s contemporary, social media aware setting – features Rosie Sheehy who plays Helena. Rosie last performed at the RSC in 2019 in the title role in King John. She is also appearing as Anne in the RSC’s current production of Richard III.
Rehearsal images also feature Bruce Alexander (King of France), Claire Benedict (Countess), Benjamin Westerby (Bertram) and Jamie Wilkes (Parolles).
This production of Shakespeare’s enduring dark comedy – exploring themes of romantic fantasy, toxic masculinity and consent – will be directed by Blanche McIntyre, whose most recent RSC credits include Titus Andronicus (2017) and The Two Noble Kinsmen (2016).
Blanche McIntyre said: “I am so excited to have the chance to direct Shakespeare’s most modern comedy at the RSC. All’s Well that Ends Well, as full of grief and nostalgia as romance and adventure, with its story of sexual politics, class prejudice and generation gaps, would always have felt contemporary. But the fantasy relationships and fake identities in the play make it a perfect match for our anxious, idealistic, lonely, social-media-addicted age.
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“The world of the play is quite a lonely one: its isolated characters have intense fantasies that are more attractive than their normal reality. It feels to me that there’s a rich parallel in contemporary life, with online fantasies of all kinds – glamorous alternative versions of ourselves, instant communities, fake intimacies – tempting us away from our real existence. The play also deals with generational divides and public scapegoating, two more issues that feel like part of the current conversation.”
“I’m thrilled to be working again with designer Robert Innes Hopkins for our second RSC collaboration. We can promise a fleet footed, inventive, contemporary, colourful production, with one foot in real life and one in the online world. I look forward very much to bringing it to audiences, and I hope they will have a thought provoking as well as entertaining evening.”
The full cast is: Bruce Alexander (King of France), Laila Alj (First Soldier), Micah Balfour (Older Dumain), Oscar Batterham (Lord/Second Soldier), Claire Benedict (The Countess), Sophie Cartman (Rinaldo/Duke of Florence), Callum Coates (Gentleman), Simon Coates (Lafew), Matthew Duckett (Lord/First Gentleman), Will Edgerton (Lavache), Jessica Layde (Mariana), Funlola Olufunwa (Widow), Olivia Onyehara (Diana), Ewan Orton (Lord/Escalus), Thom Petty (Second Gentleman), Joeravar Sangha (Lord), Eloise Secker (Younger Dumain), Rosie Sheehy (Helena), Jamie Wilkes (Parolles) and Benjamin Westerby (Bertram).
Joining Blanche and Robert on the creative team are: Richard Howell (Lighting), D.J. Walde (Music), Gregory Clarke (Sound), Douglas O’Connell (Video), Asha Jennings-Grant (Movement and Intimacy) and Kate Waters (Fights).
