James Karas
A COMPLIMENT:
The Stratford Festival gives us a robust, superbly acted and splendidly
directed production of Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist at the Tom Patterson
Theatre.
A COMPLAINT:
Well, let’s leave that for later.
The Alchemist was first
produced in 1610 and is invariably accepted as one of the masterpieces of
English drama. It is set in 17th century London and has a wide range
of references and language and jargon pertaining to the fake science of alchemy
that are not always easy to follow by a modern audience. But Director Antoni
Cimolino drives a truck through all of that with a first-rate cast that
generates energy and humour from start to finish.
From left: Stephen Ouimette
as Subtle, Brigit Wilson as Dol Common and Jonathan Goad as Face. Photography
by David Hou.
The world of The Alchemist is divided into two types
of people: the swindlers and the swindled. In the absence of the owner, a
servant and his two partners take over a house and turn it into a fraudsters’
paradise. Subtle (Stephen Ouimette) is the alchemist who can instruct on how to
establish a successful business, quarrel like a slick gentleman, make a fortune
in gambling, marry a wealthy widow and become wildly wealthy by having all your
pots and pans turned into gold. And much more. Jeremy, the servant who provides
the house and names himself Face (Jonathan Goad), is the rainmaker/businessman
who is quick of mind, tongue and foot. Dol Common (Brigit Wilson) is the peace
maker and piece provider who completes the trio of scammers supreme.
Ouimette, Goad
and Wilson give excellent performances. They exude energy and feed off each
other as the characters they play go through various transformations to keep up
with the demands of their customers and one step ahead of being discovered.
Ouimette deserves extra kudos because he has the biggest and toughest role to
play.
They are ready
for the dupes. Scott Wentworth plays Epicure Mammon, the greediest and the
funniest of them all. His puffed up costume makes him look as if he could fly
away if he were not full of blubber. Mammon’s greed has no bounds. He
fantasizes that the philosopher’s stone of the alchemist will give him wealth,
love, honour, long life and victory. With it he will be able to turn an old man
into a child. Wentworth’s performance was equal to Mammon’s exuberant fantasies
with one minor glitch. As the audience was enjoying his performance, Wentworth
momentarily slipped out of character for a cheap laugh.
Jonathan Goad (left) as Face and Scott Wentworth as Epicure Mammon.
Photography by David Hou
Randy Hughson,
with his gravelly voice, was highly entertaining as pastor Tribulation. Antoine
Yared, dressed in a barrister’s gown and wig, played the greasy law clerk
Dapper who wants to get lucky in gambling, so lucky in fact that the other
gamblers won’t have enough money left to buy dinner.
Steve Ross plays
the innocent and not-too-bright Drugger who wants business advice about his new
tobacconist shop. He gets nothing and loses a lot but Ross’s acting gives a
great deal of pleasure to the audience.
Give kudos to
Wayne Best as Surly, Mammon’s sidekick, who is smart enough to want to catch
the fraudsters. He disguises himself as a Spaniard, falls for the dumb Dame
Pliant (Jessica B. Hill) and in the ends gets nothing.
Antoni Cimolino
deserves the greatest credit for the success of the production. The play opens
on a high note as Subtle and Face argue vigorously about billing, one could
say. Subtle is on the toilet and he grabs the pot wherein he did his job and
threatens to toss it on Face. Hilarious invention by Cimolino.
Then the dupes
start arriving, first singly and later in pairs or more. Cimolino sets the pace
and there is a build-up of energy and laughter as the plot thickens and
eventually explodes.
THE COMPLAINT: Ben Jonson was a contemporary of Shakespeare and is
usually considered only second to him in the quality of his output. Take a
guess and count on your fingers how many productions of his plays the Stratford
Festival has offered since 1953. One hand will do.
We had to wait
until Jean Gascon became Artistic Director in 1969 for the first production of
a play by Jonson in Stratford. We got The
Alchemist and two years later Gascon gave us Volpone with William Hutt.
The next coffee
break lasted until 1999 (count fingers, toes and other appendages for numerical
precision) for another Jonson play and got The
Alchemist and a mere ten years later we saw Bartholomew Fair directed by Cimolino. Two plays by Jonson in six
years may seem like a feast when in fact it is a disgrace. The same holds true
of productions of the plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries but that’s another
subject.
See Cimolino’s The Alchemist and you will realize what
we are deprived of.
______
The Alchemist by Ben Jonson opened on August 15 and will run in repertory until
September 19, 2015 at the Tom Patterson Theatre, Stratford, Ontario. www.stratfordfestival.ca
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