The Alchemist

Presented by Mercurius
The Alchemist.

By Ben Jonson
Directed by Jenny Eastop.

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.