All's Well That Ends Well (Vol. 26) | Sheldon P. Zitner (essay date 1989)
Sheldon P. Zitner (essay date 1989)
SOURCE: "The Stage History," in Harvester New Critical Introductions to Shakespeare: All's Well That Ends Well, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989, pp. xv-xviii.
The title of All's Well That Ends Well seems prophetic of the play's fate in the theatre. Until three decades ago the stage history of All's Well made for short and simple annals indeed. Although the play was one of sixteen entered in the Stationer's Register by Blount and Jaggard in November, 1623 before they published the First Folio, its earliest recorded performance was at Henry Giffard's theatre in Goodman's Fields on 7 March, 1741. It was touted as a novelty, 'written by Shakespeare and not acted since his time', and its eight-performance run was a modest success. All's Well was chosen to lead off the following season, but William Milward, who played the King, died of a recurring respiratory disease and, when the run was resumed, Peg...
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