‘In each of them, we find the amalgam of the child carrying old wounds and the adult who has learned to cope with a world oblivious to his or her individual dream.’
Jennifer Weil, Old Town Playhouse

Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well has been ‘treated like the ugly stepchild of the Bard’s canon,’ according to dramaturg Jeffrey Ullom, who says the term ‘problem play‘ is often employed ‘when directors and dramaturges find a play too complicated or challenging for their own individual talents.’


Modern life is often a problem play of sorts.  Evidence of this includes the information glutosphere, the complicated health care debate or the nebulous personal career path.  You might expect Shakespeare’s problem plays to be runaway smash hits, channeling the zeitgeist head on.

The problem with problems, though, is that they’re so very problematic.  Problems beget problems.  Complexity can overwhelm. 

A good play, or comparable art production, may indeed be a way to purge the art goer’s inner doubts about his/her preparedness to slay the beast.  Or, citizenry of the denial class may just as soon float off into lesser dramas, where heros and heroines try to convince us decisions are cool and easy for the pure of heart.

I’m not pure of heart.  Are you?  Kudos to you who truthfully say you are.  The rest of us turn to art, making it or seeking it, just to hold our heads above the fray of problem plays, ubiquitous and draining.