Dr Faustus - A response

A quick note on John Rushton’s review, as some of his criticisms were unfair.

Yes, closing off the audience with Faustus’ back to audience was a misfire, but the mumbling was due to early problems with venue. Uninspired? I disagree; the wailing chorus does unsettle you disturbingly, its hyena-like cawings and cacklings and leapings provoking a mood of hell which makes it very Greek. First-class directing mostly, with a great use of space in a very small space, which was perhaps bigger than could have been. Mephisto played obviously? He was played as a macabre (sorry) Hopkinsesque serial killer, the actor had watched Karloff et al so knows his stuff. Toby Parker-Rees gives a nuanced performance of pure evil, with sympathy for the devil who mocks the lonely Faustus, who gets his comeuppance when he fucks with the Pope.

Olde-worlde? It’s Latin. Most of play goes over your head narrative-wise, but the sombre tone of language makes it Dantesque or Virgilian, the language of hell; there’s a lot going on at fortissimo volume, so it’s hardly one bar above mute, and breathtakingly loud moments unsettle and thrill. Latecomers and loud talkers needed to be shut up, but moved to talk due to boredom/ difficulty/ not wanting to get it. There’s a great deal of potential in the production, for sure, though trying to abridge it into an hour may make it abridged too far (oh boo me if you want…). Maybe there needs to be even more tonal variety than there is to break up the talky-talk bits.

Still, Benjamin Blyth, who plays Fautsus, has a Hamlet in him. See director Rory Attwood’s notes at movementfaustus.co.uk.