Performed
by Third Party Productions at the Guildhall Theatre Derby 17th October 2006
This
remarkable play, performed by a small company stopped for only one night in
Derby and proved that you do not need huge sets or a huge budget to produce
great theatre. One single set, a few curtains and props, three actors and the
imagination, swept the theatre back to the sixteenth century to give us the well-known
legend of Faust. This was in essence the classic Marlowe play rather than the
continental versions of this German legend, having no particular love interest,
no Marguerite or her familial intrigues.
As
such this play owes more to the Richard Burton stage and film interpretations
in which he was actor and director (Doctor Faustus 1967), rather than Gounod’s
magnificent nineteenth century opera, or the equally amazing silent film of F.
W. Murnau (Faust 1926) starring the then world’s greatest actor, Emil Jannings.
Performed
by three actors, each at times playing the ukulele, Faustus (Nicholas Collett)
is tempted by Mephistophilis (Anthony Gleave), portrayed as a cross between a
travelling salesman and a stage conjuror to sell his soul. The appearance of a
seductive Lucifer played in a complete departure from tradition by a female
(the striking Fionnuala Dorrity) finally clinches the deal. A few magical stage
tricks leaves the audience questioning just what is reality and just what is
illusion. This includes the transformation of Mephistophilis from demon to
seductress, using only a pair of red high heels and a fan. Acting at its
purest.
The
ending is of course predictable and unchanging but naturally features the
beautiful Marlowe prose, as Faustus regrets his folly and eventually faces his
end with all its inevitability. As such this was a more than a competent retelling
of a well-known story and if it should tour again, I would highly recommend
seeing this play.
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