Faustus

Although inventive, this play fails to pack an adequately strong emotional punch

Review by Nat Dyer | 18 Aug 2007

Adapted from a Thomas Mann novel, this interpretation of the artist-sells-his-soul-to-the-devil-for-genius storyline by the ex-Young Pleasance company casts the Faustian character as an ambitious composer, Adrian, lured into devilish ways by his sexual desire for a young woman.

A narrator, confidently played by Joshua Sasse, leads the audience through the protagonist’s life from early musical education, through the jinxed contract with the devil – decked out in top hat and tails – to the tragic denouement. Above the stage, a musical quintet seated play an original score, adding depth to the atmosphere.

The use of the small stage is highly innovative, and it’s often buzzing with action. Three unremarkable looking wooden props are employed over again in a number of surprising ways, and the actors manage to conjure devilish visions which seem to appear out of nowhere and return back just as quickly.

However, despite this inventiveness the play fails to fully convey the passion or the torment of the central character, or the malicious intent of the devil. When it ends, perhaps prematurely after less than an hour, it feels like a good but not dazzling production, that is pleasing to the eye but that fails to pack an adequately strong emotional punch.