Posted: Jan. 18, 2015 at 10:15 a.m.

It’s a premise that is sometimes hard to accept. Is all well that ends well if what happens along the way seems pretty unethical at best?

In Shakespeare’s comedy, we have a young lady pining away for the love of a man. When the man ignores her because she is not of the right social class, and perhaps because he mostly sees her weeping and unhappy, she does a favor for the king and gets the king to force the man to marry her. Then, when the man runs away from her, she tricks him into sleeping with her and gets pregnant. But in the end, he is willing to be her husband and so “all is well,” even if it seems a rough foundation on which to build a life.

Pigeon Creek, after getting a late start due to last week’s snowy and cold weather that caused them to cancel shows the opening weekend, performed this problem comedy to a sold-out audience, bringing in extra chairs and packing people in to see them perform in their usual style using Original Practice Shakespeare. Original Practice means universal lighting, doubling, modern accents and gender-blind casting.

Sean Kelley played Bertram, the object of desire. He gave him such a rebellious, almost hip-hop attitude that one almost might have thought he was corrupting Kathleen Bode’s Parolles, rather than the other way around as people in the story suggested. He acted with little regard for social structure, caught up in the tunes on his portable CD player, caring about it only when it came to the question of marriage. Kelley’s portrayal clearly showed the young lord’s immaturity and his actions constantly moved the story line along. He was comfortable talking with the audience and in the role that he played.

Janelle Mahllmann was great fun to watch in both her roles as the Countess of Rousillon and Mariana, a friend working out with the widow in a jogging outfit with hand weights. She had opposite manners in each role, going from high-born to a working class weariness masked by frenetic energy. Especially impressive was Steven Anderson’s portrayal of the king in the first half of the play. His pain was so apparent, his squirming and lack of health so specific in its choices that it made the audience yearn to aid him and squirm in their own seats in empathy with his suffering. If there was any complaint, it was that he could have had more vitality after his miraculous healing, and yet his choices did make things seem more realistic and credible.

Bode and Janna Rosenkranz as Le Feu had wonderful energy and connection in their conflicts with each other. Both played male roles, Rosenkranz with a fake beard. They circled and went at each other to great entertaining effect. Rosenkranz, with her constant amused mien, kept the upper hand to such a degree, that one almost started to sympathize with Parolles. The braggart captain often came across as a likeable character, one who received a rough come-uppance for a few simple boasts.

Kat Hermes played the central role of Helen, a girl who doggedly pursued her goals, first as a moonstruck maiden and later as the scorned and wronged spouse whom everyone sided with except for the fleeing husband. It’s a tough role to carry off, for she has to make us like her despite behavior we would now consider stalking. She often made choices for the character based on the moment in the script rather than the over-arching story line, making it hard to get a sense for who Helen is and why she is so beloved of everyone except her chosen love.

There were others in the ensemble who provided moments of both comedy and story telling. Aaron Fram’s Lavatch was properly naughty and saucy to the duchess and her household. Brieanne Roper was the appropriately demure young lady who came alive with fire when brought before the king to confront the man who had so insulted her morality. Her mother, played by Brenda VanderArk, was a proper guardian who willingly entered into the plotting with Helen.

This ensemble-directed show left a few questions unanswered, the major ones being, why did Helen so love this self-absorbed boy who was handsome in looks, but ugly in behavior? Why would she continue to seek him out when he so clearly rejected her? Why was there such disdain for Parolles who seemed only to follow along with Bertram’s youthful immaturities rather than being a corrupting factor?

Nonetheless, it is an amusing telling of the story, one of Shakespeare’s problem comedies. With the music pre-show and at intermission, Pigeon Creek seeks to entertain and make Shakespeare accessible to a wide audience. They have built up a loyal following for good reason. This is not one of their strongest shows, but it is filled with interesting choices and plenty of laughs.

SHOW DETAILS:
‘All’s Well That Ends Well’ by William Shakespeare
The Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company

Dog Story Theater
7 Jefferson SE in Grand Rapids
3:00 p.m. Sunday, January 18
Tickets $14 for adults, $7 for students and seniors
Tickets available at www.dogstorytheater.com
Seven Steps Up
116 South Jackson in Spring Lake
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24
Tickets $14 for adults, $7 for students and seniors
Tickets available by calling the Pigeon Creek Shakespeare Company at 616-850-0916
Beardsley Theater at the Frauenthal Center
425 West Western Avenue in Muskegon

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 31
Tickets available at www.starticketsplus.com,
or by calling the Frauenthal Box Office at 231-727-8001

Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes (including a 15-minute intermission)