THE ALCHEMIST BY BEN JONSON

Event Information

Presented by Mercurius
THE ALCHEMIST
By Ben Jonson
Directed by Jenny Eastop

7 to 30 June 2016
Tuesday to Saturday at 7.30pm (Sunday Matinees at 3.00 pm Only)
No Monday Performances

Tickets - Full ￡12 / Cons ￡10 (Friends of The Rose, OAP, Student or Equity)

Coleridge “One of the three most perfect plots in literature”
Wealthy Lovewit, fleeing disease-ridden London, leaves his town house safely in the care of his butler Jeremy. But Jeremy grabs the chance to set up a criminal den with two fellow swindlers, promising untold riches and success to the gullible. No scheme is too ridiculous, no dupe left untricked as the greedy of London flock to be gulled. But as the three juggle their increasingly crazy schemes to keep up the money making pretence, will the bubbling cauldron of trickery explode in all their faces? And what will happen if Lovewit suddenly decides to come home?
In 1616 Ben Jonson audaciously published a Folio edition of his works. In this four hundredth anniversary year Mercurius presents his vibrant, witty farce. They return to The Rose Playhouse for the fourth time following the sell-out, 5 star success of A Trick to Catch the Old One and A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and most recently Ben Jonson’s The Devil Is An Ass, chosen by LondonTheatre1 as one of its top ten productions of 2015.

Running time will be around 90 minutes with no interval

The Rose Playhouse, Bankside’s first theatre, 1587. The Rose is an indoor archaeological site, it is advisable to dress with an extra layer as there is no heating. There are also no toilets so please use Shakespeare’s Globe just a few hundred metres away.

Praise for Mercurius’ previous productions at The Rose –
The Devil Is An Ass
“It isn’t often that I come out of a theatre with more energy than I went in” - LondonTheatre1
“This boisterous staging of the Jacobean satire flares with timeless wit” - The Stage
“The cast deliver their performances so brilliantly without missing one moment of priceless comic timing” - A Younger Theatre

A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
“A rip-roaring production” - Times Literary Supplement
“Eastop’s sense of timing and inventive staging reveals a surety of skill” - The New Current

A Trick to Catch the Old One
“A wonderfully funny production” – A View From the Gods
“Mischievous and fun and held by excellent performances all round” – Female Arts
“Eastop's imaginative use of space gives the comedy a lease of life” – What’s On Stage