ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL" AT THE " OLD VIC."
‘Vreer Sir Sidney Lee called the charpentage of the playwright fails to make a convincing play of All's Well That Ends Well. It is rarely performed and this is the first time that the " Old Vic." has produced it. However, plenty of enthusiasm, and in one or two cases brilliant acting, contribute to making its production well worth while. For one thing, Parolles, the Miles Gloriosus, the lovable Shakespearean rascal, entirely compensates for the impossible part Helena has to play. As Parolles, Mr. Ernest Milton practically dominated the stage. The scene in the Florentine camp when, blindfolded, he imagines himself in the hands of the enemy, could not to my thinking have been funnier if Mr. Miles Malleson had taken the part, while at the end of the scene, after his exposure as a cowardly braggart, this Parolles was as tragic a figure as Shylock out- witted by Portia. Of course, Mr. Milton has played Shylock and other serious parts for the " Old Vie.," but he shows himself equally gifted as Parolles, if not more so. Miss Jane Bacon as Helena, " the female d'Artagnan," has all the sweet- ness and delicacy demanded by Hazlitt. She acted a difficult part extremely well. The alternate changes of scene between Rousillon and Paris were effected by the use of red and purple nirtains, and the night scene in the Florentine camp, with a vague blue sky visible through the open doorway of the tent,
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