Editing All's Well That Ends Well (section)

==Performance history==

No records of early performances of ''All's Well That Ends Well'' have been found. In 1741, the work was played at [[Goodman's Fields]], with a later transfer to [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane]].<ref name="JG" /> Rehearsals at Drury Lane started in October 1741 but [[William Milward]] (1702–1742), playing the king, fell ill, and the opening was delayed until 22 January. [[Peg Woffington]], playing Helena, fainted on the first night and her part was read. Milward fell ill again on 2 February and died on 6 February.<ref>{{cite book|last=Highfill|first=Philip|title=A biographical dictionary of actors, actresses, musicians, dancers, managers and other stage personnel in London, 1660–1800|volume=10|year=1984|publisher=Southern Illinois University Press|location=Carbondale, IL|isbn=978-0-8093-1130-9|page=262}}</ref> This, together with unsubstantiated tales of more illnesses befalling other actresses during the run, gave the play an "unlucky" reputation, similar to that attached to ''[[Macbeth]]'', which may have curtailed the number of revivals.<ref name = JG>{{cite book|last=Genest|first=John|author-link=John Genest|title=Some account of the English stage: from the Restoration in 1660 to 1830|volume=3|year=1832|publisher=Carrington|location=Bath, England|pages=645–647}}</ref><ref>Fraser (2003: 15)</ref>

Henry Woodward (1714–1777) popularised the part of Parolles in the era of [[David Garrick]].<ref>{{cite ODNB|last=Cave|first=Richard Allen|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year=2004|location=Oxford, England|chapter=Woodward, Henry (1714–1777)|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/29944}}</ref> Sporadic performances followed in the ensuing decades, with an operatic version at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] in 1832.<ref>[[William Linley]]'s song "Was this fair face" was written for ''All's Well That Ends Well''.</ref>

The play, with plot elements drawn from [[Romance (heroic literature)|romance]] and the [[Ribaldry|ribald tale]], depends on gender role conventions, both as expressed (Bertram) and challenged (Helena). With evolving conventions of gender roles, Victorian objections centred on the character of Helena, who was variously deemed predatory, immodest and both "really despicable" and a "doormat" by [[Ellen Terry]], who also—and rather contradictorily—accused her of "hunt[ing] men down in the most undignified way".<ref>Ellen Terry (1932) Four Essays on Shakespeare</ref> Terry's friend [[George Bernard Shaw]] greatly admired Helena's character, comparing her with the [[New Woman]] figures such as Nora in [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s ''[[A Doll's House]]''.<ref name=dickson /> The editor of the Arden Shakespeare volume summed up 19th-century repugnance: "everyone who reads this play is at first shocked and perplexed by the revolting idea that underlies the plot."<ref>W. Osborne Brigstocke, ''ed. All's Well That Ends Well'', "Introduction" p. xv.</ref>

In 1896, [[Frederick S. Boas]] coined the term "problem play" to include the unpopular work, grouping it with ''[[Hamlet]]'', ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]'' and ''[[Measure for Measure]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Neely|first=Carol Thomas |title=Broken nuptials in Shakespeare's plays|location=New Haven, CT|date=1983|publisher=University of Yale Press|page=58|chapter=Power and Virginity in the Problem Comedies: All's Well That Ends Well|isbn=978-0-300-03341-0}}</ref>