The Cast

All's Well sports three leads amongst the ensemble: Helena, Bertram, and the Countess. This particular production highlights two young Company players in different places along their career arcs. Danforth Comins, in his sixth season, has already had what can be considered a "breakout" year in 2008, when he headlined Coriolanus - a production I sadly missed, but which garnered near-universal praise. That same year he was an able Cassio in Othello, standing his ground on stage with lions (har har) Dan Donohue and Peter Macon. Prior to that his major contributions at OSF were as Bo in Bus Stop (he was solid if not awe-inspiring) and multiple roles in King John and Richard III. The role of Bertram in All's Well is likely to be played "straight," and Mr. Comins has got good Shakespearian chops to see that through. Expect fine things from him here.

Kjerstine Rose Anderson, as Helena, is having what I expect will be her own breakout year in 2009; she's one of the faces of this production and has a smaller lead role in Servant of Two Masters. This is her third season, with each year showing tremendous growth in the load she has shouldered as well as what she has made of it. Last year, she was charming and light both as Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream and as Liberty in A Comedy of Errors, giving her a year of significant work in the Canon. Along with Christine Albright and Emily Sophia Knapp, Ms. Anderson seems to be at the front of OSF's current bumper crop of young leading ladies.

The Countess is a role that actresses of a certain age can sink their teeth into; such mature actresses as Judi Dench and Peggy Ashcroft have taken to the part in recent years (not at OSF, of course). She's a strong female lead, encouraging Helena's love of her son, Bertram, despite their differences in social standing. She also plays what could be considered a fatherly role in Bertram's life, even delivering a farewell speech to him (not unlike the famous one that Polonius gives to Laertes in Hamlet).

Be thou blest, Bertram; and succeed thy father
In manners, as in shape! thy blood and virtue
Contend for empire in thee; and thy goodness
Share with thy birthright! Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use, and keep thy friend
Under thy own life’s key: be check’d for silence,
But never tax’d for speech. What heaven more will
That thee may furnish, and my prayers pluck down,
Fall on thy head! Farewell, my lord;
’Tis an unseason’d courtier; good my lord,
Advise him. (I.i.24-35)

This year's Countess is portrayed by Dee Maaske, who will forever be endeared to me for her performance of Dotty Otley in Noises Off! a few years back. That said, in her 17 seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival she's likely knocked your socks off somewhere along the way. If you've been to the Festival before, you know (and in all likelihood admire) Ms. Maaske's work, and the thought of her getting such rich material to work with should be an exciting one!