Problematic Trailers for a Problematic Play

            Even though each trailer for Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well highlights unique facets of this masterful work, neither advertisement fully succeeds in capturing the brilliant complexity and dark comedy that characterize this play.  The National Theatre trailer, on one hand, offers the audience sweeping cinematic shots and moments of high drama accompanied by a score that evokes mystery and enchantment.  This approach effectively conveys the dark (and at times, sinister) undertones beneath Helena’s deceitful plots of “wicked meaning in a lawful deed” that are “not sin, and yet a sinful fact” (3.7.51-53).  The grandeur of the production also implies that the audience should treat Shakespeare’s text with proper respect.  Almost diametrically opposite in tone and style, the STC advertisement chooses instead to emphasize the play’s comedy and absurdity.  This trailer not only includes a narrated summary of the plot, but it also shows clips of dancing and laughter that reflect the play’s lighthearted roots – roots which are evident in scenes like Lavatch’s circuitous account of his “bountiful answer that fits all / questions” (2.2.13-14).

            Despite these vastly different presentations of All’s Well, both trailers commit the same error:  oversimplifying Shakespeare’s marvelously complex work.  The National Theatre commercial, though enticingly dramatic, almost takes itself too seriously by leaving no room for the tongue-in-cheek humor of “honour” kept in “box[es] unseen” (2.3.275).  The STC trailer partly captures this playful tone, but its emphasis on silliness ignores the myriad of traps the characters set to expose the flaws of their peers.  Furthermore, neither trailer gives Shakespeare’s dialogue – rich with puns and witticisms that have ensured his work’s longevity – any screen time, ignoring one of the play’s strongest assets.  Ultimately, both productions should have embraced this comedy’s quirks, allowing its wordplay and its problematic dance between light and dark to take center stage.