Joseph Maher plays the vile braggart Parolles very close to farce. Dressed in hideous patchwork garb with a ring in his left ear, he exaggerates his hat flourishes, sticks himself with his sword, and at one point makes his exit like a javelin-thrower in slow motion. But why must he change Shakespeare's "an idle lord" to "a foolish lord"? Once started, there is no end to such idle tinkering.

In smaller roles, Jan Miner brings a neat touch of coarseness to the Widow of Florence, undoing her tightly-laced bodice when she sits down to talk; and Amy Taubin has some amusing moments as her seduced daughter Diana. Wyman Pendleton seems to draw strength for the elderly lord Lafew from his walkingstick, whereas the strange Gentleman (Ken Parker) seems to draw his from a bottle. Tom Tarpey makes a valiant attempt at Lavatch, but nothing can hide the fact that this is one of the most tiresome clowns ever penned (in his 1953 production at Stratford, Ontario, Tyrone Guthrie obviated this

difficulty by cutting out this role entirely).

Everyone down to the lowliest footman, maid-in-waiting, and soldier merrts praise for the astonishing presion with which the whole company goes through its paces. And this extends to the stage-crew too. As the scenes skip about from Roussillon to Paris to Florence to Marseilles, Marsha Eck's backdrops and panels rise and fall swiftly without noise or jerkiness, and her set-pieces roll in from the sides with split-second timing. I cannot recall the last time I saw a complex production with such impeccably well-oiled mechanics. If you don't mind an All's Well done as though it were As You Like It, this is the show for you.

(Ed. Note- "All's Well That Ends Well" will play through September 6 in alternation with "Othello" and Shaw's "The Devil's Disciple," which will be reviewed in these pages. The drive to the picturesque grounds on the Housatonic River takes about two and a half hours via the Massachusetts Turnpike, Interstate 91, and the Connecticut Turnpike to Exit 31 (at the bottom of the exit ramp, turn left despite the sign). Performances tend to begin promptly at 2 and 8:30 in the air-conditioned Festival Theatre. There are free facilities for picknickers on the premises.)