The Alchemist and the Philosopher’s Stone

What is The Alchemist?

The Alchemist is a satirical comedy written by Ben Jonson in 1610. The story takes place during an outbreak of the bubonic plague where Jeremy, a servant, goes by the alias Face. His Master, Lovewit, has fled during the outbreak and left Face in charge of his home. During his absence, Face employs the help of some friends—Subtle, a fraudulent alchemist, and Dol, a fellow criminal associate— to run a corrupt operation out of his master’s house.  

They scam the local townspeople by making false promises of success through the mystical powers of the notable philosopher’s stone. However, all starts to go awry when the trio’s victims begin to catch on to their lies and go to the police looking for justice, leaving the con artists to find a way out of their predicament!

In this adaptation of Ben Jonson’s comedy, the world and trade of alchemy is used as a masquerading stunt by a trio of con artists who use lies and deceptions onto gullible customers who fall for their sham. They falsely promise the local townspeople and trick them into believing that the alchemist can turn base metals into gold. However, it won’t take long until people will start to notice the patterns of their lies.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

FACE - The “face” of the operation. He is the orchestrator of this entire master con plan.

SUBTLE - The right-hand associate of Face and the esteemed alchemist (*he’s not a REAL alchemist).

DOL - The other criminal associate and watchful keeper of the group.

ABEL GROCER - The grocery store owner from around the corner. He wants all the success for his business.

SIR EPICURE MAMMON - The firmest believer in the philosopher’s stone and its powers. He actually invested money in it and believes he’ll get to own it.