All's Well That Ends Well

There's a fairy-tale quality about the progress of Helena, the heroine of Shakespeare's 'All's Well…'. She begins as a humbly born physician's daughter, miraculously cures the seemingly moribund King of France and by way of reward claims a prince of sorts - Bertram, Count of Rossillion - as her husband. This folkloric element is emphatically underscored in Marianne Elliott's rendering, which sees the director fruitfully reunited with designer Rae Smith after their collaboration on 'War Horse'.

The setting is a darkly expressionist nature, dominated by silhouetted gothic forms, which casts Helena (a feisty Michelle Terry) in the role of a Cinderella or, when she sets off for court in a scarlet cape, Little Red Riding Hood. Oliver Ford Davies's King, with flowing beard and glittering, slightly outsize crown, is straight out of a children's picture-book. Clare Higgins's Countess is part fairy godmother and, at least when drawing a confession of love from Helena, part Wicked Witch of the West.

The second half takes a decisive turn out of fairy-tale territory: acid greens and blues broaden the colour palette and accompany a shift in storytelling style towards the redemptive mode of Shakespeare's own late plays - in Elliott's staging, 'All's Well...' begins to look like a companion piece to 'The Winter's Tale', rather than 'Measure for Measure' and 'Troilus and Cressida', the other 'problem plays' with which it is so regularly grouped. The result - despite the unsubtle and unnecessary souring of smiles on the faces of reunited couple Helena and Bertram as the lights dim - is an unusually warm and engaging staging of one of Shakespeare's most neglected mature works.