Ben Jonson’s THE ALCHEMIST
Written by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Adapted by JEFFREY HATCHER
Directed by DAVID IRA-GOLDSTEIN
LONDON. 1610.
It’s plague time again.
When a wealthy gentleman flees to the country, his trusted servant opens his house to a pair of con artists and sets up a den of criminal capitalism. Claiming alchemical powers, the quick-witted trio fleece an onslaught of greedy sheep with their virtuosic ability to improvise amidst increasingly frantic comings and goings. It’s comic gold with dupes, double-dupes, duels, disguises, and a lucky flea named “Lewis”.