Ending Well: Mixed Genres and Audience Response in the London Theatrical Marketplace, 1604–06

Summary

William Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well is of uncertain date, but many scholars suggest it was written and performed by the King's Men around 1604– 06, speculation largely based on “invocations of God in the play, a habit . . . curtailed in 1606 by James's edict against ‘the great abuse of the Holy Name of God in stage plays,’” a few topical references, and similarities with Measure for Measure, which was performed at Court at the very end of 1604. Recently, Terry Reilly convincingly has tied All's Well That Ends Well to debate over the Court of Wards and Liveries in Parliament in 1604, which “suggests a composition date after March 1604.” I assume the play was first performed in 1604–05.

In scholarly circles All's Well That Ends Well was consistently discussed as a “problem play” until the late 1980s or 1990s, when an emphasis on the similarities between its dark and uncomfortable elements and those of other Shakespearean comedies became more common. Nevertheless, that Shakespeare was testing the limits of genre as he was writing All's Well That Ends Well is a persistent part of the narrative of the Bard's professional trajectory.