MARIA DUARTE recommends a remarkable study of the friendship between a Palestinian and a Pakistani, broken by a hostile state
Latest editorial
A brilliant con-trick
GORDON PARSONS recommends an outstanding production of The Alchemist by the RSC
MATTHEW HAWKINS rakes through un-fancy words and flair-free summaries to find who and what might be flamboyant
PETER MASON is exhilarated by an exciting, well-considered and historically minded tribute to the great Trinidadian instrument
Reducing historical lives to ‘male’ and ‘female’ roles, we lose the nuance of those lives and a clearer understanding of past societies, suggests CLAIRE ISABELLA GILMOUR
CHRIS SEARLE relishes the genius of pianist Alexander Hawkins, his many ensembles, and his new album
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.
Similar stories
GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
GEORGE FOGARTY is dazzled by a breathtakingly skillful puppet version of Shakespeare’s greatest love poem
GORDON PARSONS salutes the apt return of Brecht’s vaudevillian cartoon drama that retains the vitality of the boxing or the circus ring
GORDON PARSONS is blown away by a superb production of Rostand’s comedy of verbal panache and swordmanship