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The Alchemist
The Liverpool Playhouse
8/10
The Alchemist, with some surprising mod cons, is currently romping its way over The Playhouse stage in a satirical 16th century farce that had many laugh-out-loud moments.
Subtle, Face and Dol are the bankers of today with their 16th Century con tricks, conspiring how to get money out of the local populace with promises of great wealth and good fortune. Ben Jonson’s play is a comedy that echoes the times of yesteryear when it was believed that magic, wit and rudimentary chemistry could change base metal into gold. He had a keen eye for the follies of his contemporaries, and in this play he particularly satirises human gullibility
This latest production gives us a rumbustious rendition of Jonson’s play with many quirky gimmicks, including an entry phone system and remote controls, used too much hilarity. We have farcical scenarios with the main protagonists, Subtle (Ian Bartholomew), Face (Nicolas Tennant) and Dol (Lara Rossi) donning many wondrous and ridiculous costumes to make fools out of their many visitors and tricking them out of their money and goods. The players, otherwise, are in modern dress as was the case in Johnson’s day.
The rough stage setting is appropriate to the shoddy dealings of these three villains, and the ending, which I will not reveal, is a brilliant statement of what we have seen in the previous three hours.
The dialogue is fast and furious, and due to its 16th century script sometimes odd words seem difficult to hear. As this is written in Jacobean language one has to concentrate and listen to every line. Some accents work better than others and, for me, the scouse accent, one that I have lived with all my life, proved the most problematical of them all.
Having said that the ingenuity of Robert Icke’s direction keeps you on your toes as the players rush in and out of doors and up and down stairs. This twelve-hander never leaves you time to be bored, though at times you may be confused! There are many interesting characters, including Sir Epicure Mammon (Simon Coates) who is happy to divest himself of his money to gain greater riches. Coates, dressed as a country gentleman is engaging, whilst Abel Drugger (Kristian Phillips) does well as the half-wit tobacco merchant, and Dame Pliant (Ellie Kirk) is wondrous as a modern-day wag, blonde hair and photo-ready smile, though with no sense between her ears.
There is much shouting and banging on tables as Kastril (Hasan Dixon) and Ananais (John McGrillis) roar their way through the show, perhaps with the volume a tad too high. But what is fun are the pantomimic antics of the cast as they fall and jump into audience and run amok in the balconies and boxes, and if you are in the stalls you’ll be squirted with water and may find bread landing on your head!
But it is the main trio who are the tour de force of this production with Bartholomew, Tennant and Rossi ably holding it all together. In the end they all have their comeuppance – as is expected. But what is unexpected is the brilliant ending. You will have to go and watch it to see what is revealed!
.JPG)
