The Alchemist
Set & Costume Design
Tron Theatre / Adapted by Gary McNair from the original play by Ben Jonson / Directed by Andy Arnold / Lighting Design by Dave Shea / Photography by John Johnston
“ The ensemble also interacts seamlessly with Charlotte Lane’s multi-levelled set, where, like McCarthy and O’Rourke’s confidence tricksters, nothing is quite what it seems. A stuffed bookcase turns into a revolving door; a model of a globe is found to contain glasses and drinks; pictures and decorations pop aside to reveal the tormented faces of the scammed. There is a genuine sense of organised chaos at work here, particularly as the intrigue gathers momentum in the second half and various props and elements of the set break free from their moorings and roll across the stage.” The Times
“There is much gold to be had in Gary McNair’s rollicking reimagining of Ben Jonson’s Jacobean farce, which shifts the action from a London town-house to what in Charlotte Lane’s two-tiered construction looks like an upmarket Byres Road bordello crammed with the product of the last charity shop spree. It may be fool’s gold, but the scam set up by Louise McCarthy’s servant, Face, entrusted with looking after the big house with Grant O’Rourke’s similarly combative con-man, Subtle, sees the local toffs buy willingly into their pseudo-mystical hokum. Those who come knocking include a roll-call of posh-boy desperadoes, a pair of priests in search of enlightenment, a hipster coffee shop owner intent on groovying up the neighbourhood, a randy old duffer with lascivious intent and a Kelvinside schoolboy who’d sell his sister while learning to swear… All this is played out by way of McNair’s deliciously fruity rhyming couplets as old money and new run up against each other in increasingly madcap fashion in Andy Arnold’s production, which sees his cast of six whizzing their way through numerous entrances and exits… a pricelessly funny romp that proves to be an embarrassment of riches.” The Herald
“Charlotte Lane’s set design is stunning – a two-level space filled with hidden hatches, face-holes and goldfish bowls bolted to the walls” The Stage
“The plot sees a pair of bickering tricksters (Louise McCarthy and Grant O'Rourke) swindling the gullible and the rich by promising to create for them a philosophers stone and grant their wishes through 'the faerie queen' (McCarthy in what looks like a wedding dress festooned with fairy lights and Christmas baubles). Lies pile upon lies, disguises upon disguises, and the 6-person cast perform a whole host of zany and buffoonish characters… The plot has aged marvellously and is a refreshing reminder that farce comedy needn't be cheap or overacted to be funny. It can be classy and still occasionally crass. The design can be sumptuous and still have costumes that look like they were put together from a collection of car-boot sale left-overs. The joys and quirks are too numerous to list; such is the daft delight that is The Alchemist.” The List