MARY CONWAY revels in a powerful reminder that human lives are not defined by physical perfection
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A brilliant con-trick
GORDON PARSONS recommends an outstanding production of The Alchemist by the RSC
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 missing sister, the vengeful WAG, cruise ship claustrophobia, and reanimated Avengers
Three great releases of lost concerts by Duke Ellington Orchestra, John Taylor & Stan Sulzman, and Joe Henderson
To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
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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