RSC Friends

.?

Jonson’s exploration of human greed and folly opens with a memento mori still life- a skull on a table in a heavily draped room into which the river fog creeps. We are in plague ridden Blackfriars in 1610 curiously accompanied by a medley of television theme tunes that reassure us that this is a comedy.

We meet a disparate selection of the avaricious and gullible; religious fundamentalists, a gambler, a lascivious hedonist, a disputatious gentleman and an entrepreneurial tobacconist. All are desperate to be favoured by fortune, all are certain to lose. The gulls are easy prey for the bogus alchemist and his partners in crime, Doll and Face. The fragile criminal partnership shows signs of dissent from the beginning and is sure to end in threats and recrimination.

As the action builds to a climax the gulls become more desperate, the tricksters more outrageous- with hilarious results.

Set firmly in 1610 The Alchemist resonates with a contemporary audience well aware of Internet frauds and plausible rogues. It reminds us that ‘something for nothing’ rarely works out but also revels in the timeless ingenuity and indefatigable optimism of humanity.

Director, Polly Findlay, and her creative team have produced a fast moving production with some wonderful slapstick and utilising seventeenth century costume to great comic effect.
A fantastic production, well worth seeing.