€¦ · web viewcostume designer - lara prendergast, paula petkova . technical director - oliver...

Education Pack to accompany the Marlowe Society's production of

THE ALCHEMIS

Tby Ben Jonson

ADC Theatre, CambridgeOctober 2010

This education pack will be regularly updated through 16 October 2010.

Contents

2 Introduction 3 The Production4 Cast and Crew5 The Story 7 The Author8 Notes from the Director10 Activities

Introduction

This education pack is designed to complement your trip to see the Marlowe Society's October 2010 production of The Alchemist by Ben Jonson at the ADC Theatre in Cambridge.

The material may be freely reproduced for use in the classroom. Feel free to use the resources and activities as written or to adapt them for

The text is designed to be easily photocopied. You will find information and exercises for use in the classroom. Feel free to use them as written or adapt them to suit your class and/or situation. If you have any comments on either the show or the education pack, please get in touch. Further details about this production can be found at www.thealchemistadc.co.uk.

For further information, please contact:

John Haidar, Director - [email protected] Jendrzejewski, Producer – [email protected]

Tickets can be booked online at www.adctheatre.com or by phone at 01223 300085.

For current press releases and press-quality images, please visit www.adctheatre.com/press.php.

For press tickets or other enquiries, please contact Richard Bates on 01223 359 547 or [email protected].

The Alchemist by Ben Jonson Education Pack ADC Theatre, October 2010

Views expressed in this education pack are not necessarily those of the ADC Theatre.


The Production

The Marlowe Society presents

The Alchemist

by Ben Jonson

7.45pm, Tue 12th - Sat 16th October2.30pm matinee, Sat 16th October

ADC Theatre

The world-famous Marlowe Society ("a powerhouse of theatrical expertise" - Sir Ian McKellen) is proud to work with the ADC Theatre to bring to life Jonson's finest masterpiece.

Living in a stolen house, Face, Subtle and Dol Common are making themselves a fortune. Imagine, if you can, a world full of the greedy, false and ambitious, all out for everything they can get. Imagine a world where the desire for money and sex drives individuals to believe the most outrageous things. Imagine a world where such an indulgent philosophy leads its residents into farcical and extraordinary situations.

Our three heroes are master con-artists. Employing a spectacular array of characters and costumes they entice, seduce, deceive and hustle their way through the playwright’s most colourful and eclectic collection of characters with hilarious results.

Ben Jonson wrote The Alchemist to satirise the London of his time, however, his precise, witty and enlightened depiction of humanity remains shockingly


relevant today.

The Marlowe Society was founded in 1907 and boasts alumni including Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn, Sam Mendes, Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi, and Simon Russell Beale. It has recently been described as “the most influential amateur dramatic society in Britain, probably in the world” (Tim Cribb, Bloomsbury and the British Theatre; Salt Publishing, 2007). The Marlowe has developed a reputation for producing exciting, innovative and professional interpretations of such classic texts, attracting some of the finest actors, technicians and creative forces from within Cambridge University.


Cast and Crew

CastSubtle - Nick Ricketts Face - Joey Batey Dol - Victoria Ball Mammon - Will Seaward Surly - Theo Chester Dapper - Josh Stamp-Simon Drugger - James Swanton Ananias - George Potts Tribulation - Oskar McCarthy Lovewit - Tom Pye Kastril - James Kellett Dame Pliant - Abi Bennett

ChorusEmerald Paston Leonie James Laura Kettle Brid Arnstein Holly Crook Isla Fitchie

Production Team Director - John Haidar Producer - Ingrid Jendrzejewski Assistant Producer - Rich Mason Stage Manager - Debbie Farquhar Assistant Stage Manager - Sarah Ward Costume Designer - Lara Prendergast, Paula Petkova Technical Director - Oliver Duff Lighting Designer - Simon Thomas Sound Designer - Peter Hoyes Chief Electrician - Tony Dent


Photographer - Chrystal Ding Website Designer - Peter Cowan Publicity Designer – Joey Batey


The StoryThough the events dramatised in The Alchemist take place over the course of a single day, everything you need to understand for the story to fall into place, goes back several weeks, even months.The action begins when Lovewit leaves his townhouse in Blackfriars to escape the threat of plague in London. He leaves a single servant, Jeremy Butler, to care for his house in his absence.After Lovewit has left, Jeremy travels to Pie Corner in Smithfield, where he meets an emaciated man, who is down on his luck. This is the con artist, Subtle. The two of them hit on the idea of a scam. They are going to take over Lovewit’s house and pretend that Subtle is a skilled alchemist who has the power to produce the legendary Philosopher’s Stone, which will turn all base metals into gold. The lowly butler, Jeremy, is turned into Captain Face, a thoroughly respectable chap. Face is sent out into the city to win people’s trust and bring them to the house. Face is the roper, who brings in the mark, and Subtle is the inside man. Face and Subtle employ a prostitute, Dol Common, to aid them in their task.A few weeks pass, and the scam seems to be going well. Face has been successful in generating interest in the Philosopher’s Stone, and the substantial house they inhabit in Blackfriars is evidence of Subtle’s high standing. Subtle is able to pass himself off as whatever Face has set him up to be. Face, in turn, is able to disguise himself as Ulen Spiegel, the bellows man, upon request. It is at this point, having established their criminal enterprise, that Jonson begins his play.The drama opens with an argument between the three con artists, as Face and Subtle vie for supremacy. Dol, breaking the two apart, reasons that they must work as a team if any of them are to enjoy success.They finally agree and, employing a spectacular array of characters and costumes, begin to entice, seduce, deceive and hustle their way through the playwright’s most colourful of characters – Dapper and Drugger, Tribulation and Ananias, Mammon and Surly, Pliant and Kastril – with hilarious results.First to arrive is Dapper, a lawyer’s clerk, who wishes for a bit of luck at the races and in rolling dice. Face and Subtle manage to trick him into believing he may gain favour with the ‘Queen of Fairy’, a mysterious relative who will grant him enormous wealth. First of all, however, Dapper must undergo a range of humiliated (and completely unnecessary) ceremonial practices. After Dapper, Abel Drugger, a local tobacconist arrives, in the hope of seeking Subtle’s advice, relating to the dimensions of his new shop. After this, Sir Epicure Mammon and his cynical friend, Surly, enter the house, wherein Mammon believes the dynamic duo are preparing the Philosopher’s Stone for him. Surly,


quite rightly, suspects both Face and Subtle and is quite adamant he will not be “gull’d”. About midway through their conversation, Mammon sees Dol. Anxious to change the subject, Face tells him she is a lord’s sister, who has recently been diagnosed with a form of madness. Mammon is infatuated and vows to visit and woo her.Meanwhile, Subtle is being irritated by a pious deacon of the Anabaptist sect, a cleric named Ananias, who has refused to give him any more money. Subtle, in turn, demands to speak to his pastor, Tribulation Wholesome. Drugger returns and is given nonsensical advice about the setting up of his new business. He brings news of a local widow, Dame Pliant, who is richly endowed thanks to her brother, Kastril, with £3000 a year. Both Face and Subtle set out to win the rich widow.Ananias, this time accompanied by Tribulation, returns, agreeing to pay for the brethren’s possessions to be turned into gold. Little do they know these are in fact the goods belonging to Mammon. At this point, Dapper returns and is told he will meet with the ‘Queen of Fairy’ imminently. Drugger brings Kastril, who is interested in Subtle’s apparent matchmaking skills, in an attempt to marry off his sister. Dapper is then blindfolded and exposed to the ‘fairies’ (able played by Face and Subtle), which proceed to pinch and ridicule him. However, upon the surprise return of Mammon, Dapper is gagged and locked under the privy. Face introduces Mammon to Dol, leaving them to enjoy a romantic interlude. Kastril returns with his sister, Dame Pliant, who enraptures both Face and Subtle. A quarrel ensues over who is to have her.Meanwhile, Surly has been plotting to expose the con artists and returns to the house in the guise of a Spanish nobleman. Believing he speaks no English, both Face and Subtle proceed to insult him. As Dol is temporarily ‘engaged’ with Mammon, and believing the Spanish Don has come for a woman, Face decides to offer Dame Pliant. Fearing her brother, she concedes and goes off with Surly, who by this point wishes to not only expose the scheme but also to marry the widow. By this time, Mammon has been around for too long and needs to be got rid of. Dol pretends to enter a fit of madness and there is an explosion in the laboratory. Face explains to Mammon that their work is ruined and Dol’s brother is angry and in search of him. Mammon hastily leaves. After Subtle attempts to pickpocket Surly whilst he sleeps, he reveals himself, having already confided in Dame Pliant, and denounces the con artists. Kastril, Drugger and Ananias immediately return and verbally abuse the trickster, Surly, who finally retreats. Face instructs Drugger to find a Spanish costume if he is to have a chance of marrying the widow. To make things worse, Dol notices that the master, Lovewit, has returned to the house.Lovewit finds a group of neighbours and questions them about what has happened whilst he has been away. Face reverts back to his ‘default setting’, Jeremy Butler, and explains that there have been no visitors in the past few weeks. At this point, Mammon and Surly, Kastril and Tribulation and Ananias return to the house. In addition, Dapper chews through his gag and is heard from underneath the privy. Losing all faith in the con, Jeremy confesses to


Lovewit, asking him to pardon him in exchange for marriage to the rich widow. Dapper is introduced to the ‘Queen of Fairy’ and departs happily, none the wiser. Face confides in his two colleagues that he has confessed to Lovewit and that there are officers on their way; Subtle and Dol are furious and are forced to leave the house with nothing.Some of the ‘customers’ return to find that Lovewit is married to Dame Pliant – he has also secretly claimed all of Mammon’s goods. The ‘customers’ depart, disconsolately, as Kastril accepts his sister’s marriage. Finally, Face asks for the audience’s forgiveness as the curtain falls.


The AuthorBen Jonson was born in London in 1572. His father, a clergyman, died shortly before his birth. After graduating from Westminster, he experimented with trade and served a brief term in the army before joining a theatre company run by Philip Henslowe.

Relatively little is known about his theatrical career until 1597 when he was imprisoned for his contributions to a now-lost play called The Isle of Dogs - a satire so seditious that it induced the privy council to supress all the London theatres.

Then, in 1598, Jonson's reputation was firmly established when his play Every Man in His Humor was performed at the Curtain by the Lord Chamberlain's Company, with no other than William Shakespeare himself playing one of the roles.

Jonson found himself in more than one squabble with his fellow thespians. In 1598, he went to trial for killing an actor in a duel. He lost his property and his thumb was branded, but he escaped capital punishment. He then went on to write, among other things, a couple of satirical comedies which lampooned rival playwrights Dekker and Marston (who responded with their own play that attacked Jonson).

Jonson didn't just make enemies within the world of the theatre; Jonson was questioned by privy council about his 1603 tragedy Sejanus and voluntarily accompanied his co-authors to prison when Chapman and Marston were jailed for their contributions to Eastward Ho! performed in 1604.

Despite these troubles, he soon began to write masques for King James I’s court. Over the next 15 years, Jonson enjoyed great success. During this time, he penned many of the plays for which he is most remembered today, including Volpone in 1606, The Alchemist in 1610 and Bartholomew Fair in 1614, all three of which were included in his first folio of plays published in 1616. Also in 1616, Jonson began to receive a regular pension for his work, causing some to view him as the first poet laureate.


His popularity began to wane in the 1620s, although he was still a great influence on several younger poets including Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace and John Suckling. Jonson continued to write until his death in 1637. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.

The portrait shown above was based on a 1617 portrait of Jonson by Abraham van Blijenberch, a Flemish painter who painted many of those in King James I’s court.


Notes from the DirectorIn David Mamet’s 2001 crime film, Heist, a master con-artist walks towards his car, about to drive to a dangerous job. “Stay in the shadows,” his wife warns him. “Everyone’s going to be looking in the shadows,” he replies, “the place to be is in the sun.”

When I was researching the background to this production, I came across a passage in a recent book by Robert Butler: “Our minds are naturally drawn towards the half-hidden, the overheard and whatever it was that was disappearing round the corner. [In this way,] one of the essential skills in influencing other people’s thoughts is to allow the crucial information to appear as if it was not really supposed to have been heard at all.” This extract seemed to me to sum up perfectly the cleverness of Jonson’s greatest con.

Born into a life of abject poverty in 1572, Benjamin Jonson grew up in an age rife with plague and political unrest. Through the patronage of a mysterious benefactor, he was classically educated at Westminster School before enlisting to fight in the Netherlands and then spending most of his later life in and out of prison, as a result of the “lewd and mutinous” nature of his early plays and, on one occasion, for killing an actor, Gabriel Spencer, in a duel. The only thing

going for him was the power of his writing.

It is difficult to imagine that, from such humble beginnings, he would come to rival Shakespeare. However, by the time he died in 1637, he was the most celebrated poet of his age and was almost universally acknowledged as a better playwright than the author of Hamlet. A comic


masterpiece, The Alchemist, celebrates its 400th birthday this year. In the words of the poet and literary critic, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, along with Sophocles’ Oedipus and Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, the play represents one of the three most perfect plots in all literature.

With his master, Lovewit, retreating to the country to avoid an outbreak of the plague in London, Face develops a scheme to make money. He enlists the help of a recent acquaintance, Subtle, and a prostitute, Dol Common, giving them access to his master’s house. Subtle disguises himself as an alchemist, with Face as his servant. The three gull and cheat their way through an assortment of foolish characters, with the play taking place over the course of a day in Lovewit’s house. The three rogues are forced to frenetic manoeuvres to manage all of their simultaneous scams, and then to fend off their increasingly suspicious clientele. At last, Lovewit returns; quickly perceiving what Face has done in his absence, he devises a scheme of his own, allowing all to end well.

It’s been a long and winding road to get this production on stage, having been forced to cancel the first scheduled run due to illness. I would like to thank everyone associated with the show and, in particular, Ingrid Jendrzejewski, and the fantastic creative team, who have worked tirelessly, and Matt Bulmer, without whom none of this would be possible.

To my mind, all great art should evoke a reaction in us, and whether that’s love or hate, sorrow or joy, it should grab us by the throat, wrestle us to the ground, and re-arrange our reality. Jonson does this, having spent most of his life moving between the shadows and the sun, and, for this reason, The Alchemist continues to have a hold over us, four hundred years’ on. Brilliant, witty and utterly hilarious, it shows us that the desire for wealth, sex or social status continues to make fools of us all, at one point or another, even today.


Activities

The Classical UnitiesOne of the earliest pieces of writing to address dramatic theory was Aristotle's Poetics, written around 335 BCE. In this work, Aristotle discusses what have now become known as the ‘classical unities’ – three rules that Aristotle believed that dramas should obey:

Unity of time – the action in a drama should take place over the course of, at most, 24 hours

Unity of place – the play should take place in one place. Unity of action – the play should focus on one main action or plotline. It

should not be confused with lots of subplots.

Discuss how Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist obeys or disobeys Aristotle’s classical unities. Be sure to give examples from the play!

Costumes and SetThis painting, "David Garrick as Abel Drugger in Jonson's The Alchemist" by Johann Zoffany, portrays a scene from a 1740s revival of The Alchemist in which John Palmer plays Face, Burton plays Subtle and David Garrick plays Abel Drugger. This play was staged in the 1740s at Theatre Royal, Smock Lane in Dublin – a theatre that attracted many stars from London.

How do the costumes and set in this painting differer from the costumes and set in the play you’ve just seen?

Do you think that adding modern costumes and set pieces to The Alchemist


changes how the audience views the characters and the story? If you were designing the costumes or set for a production of The Alchemist, what sorts of clothing, furniture and props would you choose? What would these decisions bring to the story?


ReviewsSamuel Taylor Coleridge once wrote, “Upon my word, I think the Oedipus Tyrannus, The Alchemist, and Tom Jones, the three most perfect plots ever planned.”1 Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Write your own review of The Alchemist. Imagine that you are writing to someone who has not yet seen the play.

You may want to include a brief outline or introduction to the story as well as your own opinions about various aspects of the production (like characters, set, costumes, music and lighting). Is there any aspect of the show that you particularly liked? Is there anything you would have done differently?

Feel free to submit a copy of your review to the production team!

Sound and MusicJust as much as costume and set, music and sound can make a great difference in how an audience responds to a play. In this production, the director uses a song from The Arctic Monkeys to frame the story, but other productions have made very different choices.

For example, The Alchemist HWV 43 is music written by Handel and arranged by an anonymous composer for a revival of The Alchemist that played at Queen’s Theatre in London on the 14th of January, 1710. Almost all of the movements were taken from the overture to Handel’s opera, Rodrigo.

How do you think the music chosen for the current production adds to or detracts from the play? How might the play seem different if, say, the Handel arrangement was used instead? If you were directing a version of The Alchemist, what type of music or sound effects would you choose?

1 R F Brinkley (ed.). Coleridge on the Seventeenth Century (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1955).


€¦ · web viewcostume designer - lara prendergast, paula petkova . technical director - oliver...

Documents