All's Well Advertising

                The National Theatre ad is very appealing and overall seems to convey the complexity of the play, including both the happy moments like the dancing King, and the more somber moments portrayed with darker lighting and grim-faced actors and appropriately dramatic music. However, in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s ad, All’s Well That Ends Well is made to seem like a romantic comedy that will have you laughing out loud the entire time and leave with a warm, fuzzy feeling. This is a clever marketing technique to an extent. The play is fairly perplexing in the fact that it tells you that it is neatly wrapped up but leaves the reader wanting more of an explanation, like we talked about in class. This is especially evident when the King says “Of that and all the progress, more or less, Resolvedly more leisure shall express: All yet seems well” (III. iii. 331-333) .If the ad makers were completely honest and came out and said “This play will definitely leave you feeling confused and unfulfilled at the end” very few people, besides Shakespeare enthusiasts, would attend.

                However, I would not go so far as the Shakespeare Theatre Company ad makers do. People will be confused and disappointed if they attend because they expect the romantic comedy portrayed in the commercial, and wind up with a morally confusing problem play. The best example of a scene that might turn off those looking for more lighthearted work is when Helena, who starts as one of the more likable characters, suddenly becomes a scheming trickster, saying, “Let us assay our plot; which, if it speed, Is wicked meaning in a lawful deed” (III. vii. 43-45). Her sweet but intelligent character is almost made into a villain by turning something as important as sex into a game. This, and many other scenes, will throw wrenches into the romantic comedy aesthetic that this ad has tried to convince the viewer of.