Smart, Modern "Trick" Plays Out Shakespeare’s "All’s Well That Ends Well"

Rachel Guyer-Mafune, Libby Barnard
and Sophia Franzella in The Bed Trick (Giao Nguyen)

The Bed Trick
Seattle Shakespeare Company
Seattle Center Armory Theatre
Through April 7, 2024
 
Starting from Shakespeare’s troublesome trickery in All’s Well That Ends Well, where two women switch places in the dark to bed a man who doesn’t realize it, playwright Keiko Green fashions a modern dive into what we think of the “trick” now.
 
Sure, folks in Shakespeare’s time might have looked at it very differently. Women had little agency or choices about who they married or how their lives would go. But when a company puts on Shakespeare’s plays now, shouldn’t they take a minute to evaluate what our society values are at this moment?
 
Green has performed on many Seattle area stages and began playwriting here, debuting several works before heading south for an MFA. It’s a privilege to be able to see a playwright’s work over time, and in this case, Green just keeps getting better! The Bed Trick dives deeply into the concept of tricking someone without consent, and also interrogates Shakespeare while blending in some beautiful passages.

A trio of new college students are rooming together and they couldn’t be more different. Harriet (Libby Barnard) is a drama major with a large helping of ditz and insecurity. Marianne (Sophia Franzella) is a goody-two-shoes trying to do her best to get used to college. Lulu (Rachel Guyer-Mafune) is the woman everyone thinks is cool and desirable, though we aren’t sure what her goals or aims in life are or what she wants out of college.
 
Lulu has a boyfriend and is used to have them, but she’s ambivalent about how much commitment she wants to have. That doesn’t mean she feels so secure with Willis (Ricky Spaulding) since he seems to be a bit distant recently. When she finds out he has listed himself on a dating website, she sets up some fake accounts to trap him. As a fail-safe, she sets up one with Harriet’s picture – without asking Harriet, thinking that would be the very least likely to attract him, but somehow he responds to that one.
 
When he wants to phone chat, Lulu pressures Marianne to call him as the fake Harriet, and Marianne gets drawn farther in than she thought she was going to. So, here is the triangle in modern times that mirrors the dilemma in Shakespeare’s play.
 
But these modern college women are steeped in “consent” and asking and receiving permission for physical contact, which is more and more important in the attempt to change “rape culture” where physical contact is unwanted, but made anyway. Harriet is performing in their school play, which happens to be All’s Well That Ends Well, and is trying to understand if it’s ok that the character Helena follows the man around, and tricks him into having sex with her.
 
Green provides Marianne with newly divorced parents Benny (MJ Sieber), and Anna (Alexandra Tavares), who have a “funny story” about how they met that mirrors a similar bed trick where Anna got pregnant and they got married. Ha, ha…. Didn’t that work out well?
 
The tempo is fast and funny and furious, mostly, with a few poignant moments. Everyone except Willis gets a clown moment, enhancing our care for each of them. When the bed is laid (sorry, couldn’t help it), the second act becomes a farce as Willis pushes to meet “Harriet” in person, Marianne hopes to lose her virginity, and Anna just happens to come to town to see her daughter.
 
Scenic designer Parmida Ziaei creates three areas on set with a particularly suitable dorm room, an office and a versatile location for various small moments. Lighting designer Andrew D. Smith creates deft and quick lighting changes. Costume designer Andi Alhadeff picks unique costumes that help define each character distinctively. Pulling it all together is director Makaela Milburn, keeping tempo while also allowing each character to shine.
 
This is the last weekend to see this smart, well-crafted production. Here’s hoping it will go on to other Shakespeare-producing theaters or colleges around the country where they will likely have great fun putting this on.
 
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