The Alchemist
The Alchemist by Ben Jonson; Bell Shakespeare Company & Queensland Theatre Company; Playhouse, Sydney Opera House, 18 March-18 April and touring to Canberra and Perth.
There's one born every minute, apparently, so how many greedy and/or naive types have been gulled by shysters since Ben Jonson’s play was first staged in 1610 would be mind-boggling to calculate. (Ideas anyone?) And being led a merry dance by grifters, cheats, conmen, tricksters, frauds, hornswogglers, mountebanks, flimflammers and sharks – among others – is both as old as the hills and as new as the latest scam.
And la! Here’s one: just plopped into the inbox:
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Hope to read from you as soon as possible. Regards, Barrister JerryWest, United Kingdoms International Lottery.
If you’d like Barrister Jerry’s email address, just ask. It’s a hotmail tag in Hong Kong, but no matter. Meanwhile, back in 1610, Barrister Jerry’s rather wittier and more imaginative forebears were hard at work.
Ben Jonson’s satire on greed and gullibility is as fresh as the day it first appeared in Elizabethan London in John Bell’s vivacious production. In keeping with a play about smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand, the pace is relentless and the choreographed physicality of the action such that any faltering or mistiming would bring the whole thing crashing to its knees. But so assured is the cast and so on top of their form are Andrew Tighe (Face, the butler) and Patrick Dickson (Subtle the alchemist) in particular, as the two gullers-in-chief, that two hours seems hardly long enough to spend in their company.
The collaboration with QTC also brings some welcome new faces to Sydney, in particular Georgina Symes as the conmen’s accomplice and squeeze, Doll Common. She looks like Amy Winehouse’s slightly less disastrous sister and is a skinny powerhouse of attitude and concentration. Similarly Liz Skitch in a couple of roles including the pert and pretty heiress, Dame Pliant, lights up the stage with laughter when she appears, despite the considerable hindrance of her bling-laden, yo-bro brother Kastril (Scott Witt).
There is also a new crop of Bell-favourite geek boys in the show: actors who aren’t shy about looking as silly or awful as a role requires: Bryan Probets and Lucas Stibbard as two of the dupes, Dapper and Abel Drugger, do more with dandruff, credulity and nasty personal habits than is fair on a fastidious and laugh-aching modern audience. At the other end of the scale, handsome Sandro Colarelli is equally preposterous as the popinjay Surly, whether got up like a dandy or in some loose approximation of a matador’s outfit. (Don’t ask, go see it.)
In essence, Subtle, Face and Doll set out to relieve their fellow Londoners of as much loot and dosh as possible during the absence of Subtle’s master when plague threatens the city. They use his mansion as the honeypot for a series of schemes that flatter and prey on the weaknesses and greed of each mark. While Subtle and Face work the schemes, Doll entraps such worthies as Sir Epicure Mammon (splendid David Whitney in a grotesque fat suit and absurd wigs) and generally keeps her men in order.
The master, Lovewit, (Russell Kiefel) is a sharp looking gent who wouldn’t be out of place in Underbelly, so when he returns unexpectedly from the country all is skittled. Nevertheless, moral certainties were as fluid in the 1600s as they are now and the final wash-up is a further twist of fate for the shysters. Although no thanks to the efforts of the religious worthies Ananias (Richard Sydenham and Pastor Tribulation (Peter Kowitz), whose wild-eyed fundamentalism is as ghastly as it is funny.
The design is credited solely to Bruce McKinven(with lighting by Matt Scott) and the whole is wonderful. There is a kaleidoscopic array of costumes with no unifying or historical theme except they suit the characters and add immensely to the fun and spectacle. The staging is simple: a few bits of furniture, plus racks of clothes and a mirrored rear wall where the audience can see itself laughing and watching others do all the dopy things we do every day.
In keeping with the nothing-hidden (except everything, of course) theme of the tricksters, assistant stage manager Jennifer Buckland is on stage throughout and integral to the action. A lot of banging on doors requires her to belt a hammer on her table at frequent intervals and it’s a lovely touch in a production of lovely touches. For lots of reasons but particularly if you’re thinking of responding to Mrs Lovepeace Constanzia’s overture to help her give you some of her late husband’s multi-million dollar fortune because she’s dying of cancer and he was assassinated, may he rest in peace, it would be a good idea to go see The Alchemist.
