PAUL DONOVAN is chilled by the contemporary resonance of Harper Lee’s coming of age tale amidst racism and white supremacy in this excellent production
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A brilliant con-trick
GORDON PARSONS recommends an outstanding production of The Alchemist by the RSC
GEOFF BOTTOMS recommends the unashamedly light-hearted escapism on offer in this stage version of the 1963 film
Full of mysterious religious references and radical sound design, the Scottish duo’s new offering is candidate for album of the year, suggests SIMON DUFF
MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
PAUL DONOVAN recommends the fine performances in this account of the pre-war meeting between the US president and the British king
TECLYN AROD relishes an intimate celebration of jazz improvisation that mixes local and national musicians
The Alchemist
The Swan Theatre
Stratford-upon-Avon
4/5
RECENT RSC productions of Shakespeare and his contemporaries have gone overboard to draw parallels with our own time but director Polly Findlay doesn’t have to strain with Ben Jonson’s attack on the gullibility of humanity at the mercy of society’s ever-present con artists.
Daily, the media easily appears to confirm Jonson’s view that mankind consists of fools and knaves where greed rules and, indeed, he seems to take pleasure in his own analysis.
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