The Alchemist
The Courtyard, London

Shirley Dent

There's nowt so strange as folk, somebody somewhere once said. And Ben Jonson's The Alchemist is all about the strangeness of folk and their desires.

He was an earthy bugger, our Ben, and The Alchemist dazzles with a language alive and kicking. The strength of N1's production is that they just get on with it without any attempt to draw out metaphysical conundrums or psychological angst. In short, this is great fun and takes real delight in spitting out Jonson's lines with joie de vivre.

In a similar vein to the Oxford Stage Company's outdoor productions, such as The Winter's Tale at Lincoln's Inn last summer, this Alchemist attacks the job in hand with gusto, bringing an almost pantomime quality to the proceedings. Subtle it is not. Like the Oxford Stage Company, big lapels and the preposterous posturing of hip dudes are played for laughs. And on the whole N1 pull this off remarkably well.

Paul Gillingwater milks the audience for all the cheap laughs he can get as Mammon, not played as the seething embodiment of evil materialism, but as a lisping arse of bohemian decadence. He just about gets away with it, saved by his obvious relish in lisping and hip-thrusting his way through those life-lusting lines. Unfortunately I just couldn't get Dudley Moore spliced with Austin Powers out of my head for some reason. I had a similar problem with Rebecca Reaney as Dol Common. Only this time it was Samantha Janus spliced with Kat from EastEnders. There is a particularly strong and consistent performance from David Beckford as Face, who was spliced with… er… no one.

This is a very strong ensemble piece that knows it is entertainment rather than philosophy. It is not the greatest or most insightful production you will ever see but it is adept at serving up the bawdy alchemy of Ben Jonson's language on stage, descending into farce at some points. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Till 25 January 2004