<P> The play continued onstage as a droll during the Commonwealth period; after the Restoration, it belonged to the repertory of the King's Men of Thomas Killigrew, who appear to have performed it with some frequency during their first years in operation . The play is not known to have been performed between 1675 and 1709, but the frequency of performance after 1709 suggests that it probably was . Indeed, the play was frequently performed during the eighteenth century; both Colley Cibber and David Garrick were notable successes in the role of Drugger, for whom a small amount of new material, including farces and monologues, in the latter half of the century was created . </P> <P> After this period of flourishing, the play fell into desuetude, along with nearly all non-Shakespearean Renaissance drama, until the beginning of the twentieth century . William Poel's Elizabethan Stage Society produced the play in 1899 . This opening was followed a generation later by productions at Malvern in 1932, with Ralph Richardson as Face, and at the Old Vic in 1947 . In the latter production, Alec Guinness played Drugger, alongside Richardson as Face . </P> <P> The Oregon Shakespeare Festival staged a fast - paced, nearly farcical production in 1961; Gerard Larson played Face, and Nagle Jackson Face, under Edward Brubaker's direction . The performance received generally favourable reviews; however, a 1973 production set in the Wild West setting did not; the setting was generally considered inconsistent with the tone and treatment of the play . </P> <P> In 1962, Tyrone Guthrie produced a modernised version at the Old Vic, with Leo McKern as Subtle and Charles Gray as Mammon . Trevor Nunn's 1977 production with the Royal Shakespeare Company featured Ian McKellen as a "greasy, misanthropic" Face, in a version adapted by Peter Barnes . The original was played at the Royal National Theatre, with Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale in the central roles, from September to November 2006 . A contemporary dress production directed by Michael Kahn opened the 2009 / 2010 season at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC . Another contemporary dress production was directed by Tariq Leslie and produced by the Ensemble Theatre Co-operative at the Jericho Arts Centre, Vancouver, Canada in the summer of 2012 . </P>

Brief summary of the alchemist by ben jonson