(l to r) With Mephistopheles (Lyndsy Kail) as his servant, Faustus (Mark Anderson Phillips) travels the globe on a dragon in San Jose Rep’s world premiere adaptation of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. Photo by Kevin Berne.
THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS: Drama by Christopher Marlowe. Adapted and directed as a multimedia event by Kirsten Brandt. San Jose Repertory Theatre, San Jose Repertory Theatre, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose (Between South 2nd & 3rd Streets), CA. 408.367.7255 or www.SJRep.com.
May 15 – June 2, 2013
THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS a winner at San Jose Rep (World Premier)
Making Christopher Marlowe’s play about Doctor Faustus palpable to modern audiences has been a problem. The last San Francisco production of David Mamet’s 2004 adaptation at the Magic Theatre was a disaster. Author /director Kirsten Brandt has taken a page from the book of author/director Mark Wing-Davey who mounted Shakespeare’s Pericles as a ‘theatrical event’ using eight actors to play 17 roles. Brandt uses four actors to play a minimum of 25 roles throwing in a few puppets along the way and including visible stage hands as part of the activity. Also, like Wing-Davey, what was written as a 95 minute play has been expanded to two hours and 20 minutes including the 20 minute intermission.
The intermission is needed because the total production is overwhelming and needs a break to allow the audience to refresh their attention on the non-stop visual, auditory and intellectual assault. It truly is a collaborative event of: Kirsten Brandt (Director); David Lee Cuthbert (Scenic, Lighting, and Media Designer ); Cathleen Edwards (Costume Designer); Rick Lombardo (Sound Designer); Steve Schoenbeck (Associate Sound Designer); Gina Marie Hayes (Puppet Consultant); Deirdre Rose Holland (Stage Manager).
The technical conceits are aided and abetted by a cast that Mark Anderson Phillips (Doctor Faustus); Rachel Harker (Lucifer, the Pope, scholars, and many other roles), Lyndsy Kail (Mephistopheles, Seven Deadly Sins, Old Man) and Halsey Varady (Beelzebub, Angels, Wagner and several other roles). Phillips is a strong challenger to local icon James Carpenter as the best actor in the Bay Area. Lyndsy Kail as Faustus’s side-kick
Devilish Mephistopheles (Lyndsy Kail)
Mephistopheles almost matches Anderson’s tour-de-force performance.
There are two and possibly three versions of Marlowe’s play and Kisten Brandt’s selection of various scenes may be questioned by one familiar with the text but for those of us who are unfamiliar with the text, the brilliant staging and acting is sufficient to create a memorable evening of theatre. To begin, a bare stage morphs into semi translucent panels on which various angled fantastic projections are screened. These panels move aside for entrance and exits and even are used for back-lit puppet shows. From the opening projections of Faustus’s library and overhead views of mystical sand creations to the ending with the fires of hell consuming the soul of Faustus the assault on our visual senses are compounded by sound and music of the spheres.
It is the story of the German Doctor Faustus who sells his soul to Lucifer in exchange for the art of necromancy (Black Magic) and 24 years of intellectual fame and fortune. He accepts Mephistopheles the right hand man of Lucifer as his devoted traveling companion and travels the world on a flying dragon (an adult tricycle puppet) getting into all sorts of mischief. Humor does not abound about is sufficiently scattered throughout the evening to alleviate the intensity of storyline. For example there is a scene(s) where Pope’s entourage is besieged by magical pranks while Faustus and Mephistopheles are invisible and the men turned into horned animals. Later in the court of German emperor, Charles V a bit of magic ‘lightens’ the proceedings.
Suggestion: Brush up on Christopher Marlowe who is thought to be the writer of Shakespeare’s plays and read a synopsis of his most famous play being given a stunning production at San Jose Rep as the offering for the final show in their 2012-2013 season.
Kedar K. Adour, MD
Courtesy of www.theatreworldinternetmagazine.com.
