Dr Faustus
Loft Theatre, Leamington
NOT a new tale but a new telling in the Loft’s imaginative re-imagining of Marlowe’s timeless classic adapted by David Fletcher.
The familiar battle between temptation and redemption plays out with a strong emphasis on physicality and technical effects.
Faustus makes his pact with Lucifer and is served by Mephistopheles on a whirlwind, 24-year tour of excess and mayhem before the final reckoning.
There’s a lot to admire in this production; two solid central performances and a company clearly embracing the style and pace of the show.
David Bennett’s scholar is clearly a student not in the early years of undergraduate life. Faustus is not required to be a youth but age and experience do change the dynamics. Though the temptation to make up for life’s lost opportunities or settle a few scores would doubtlessly appeal, the schoolboy antics at the Pope’s palace look a trifle unlikely and lusting after Helen of Troy takes on a rather creepy hue.
As Mephistopheles Peter Daly-Dickson sets out as a brooding presence and stays in much the same territory throughout.
One of the play’s most intriguing elements is the subtle shift of balance in the relationship between Faustus and Mephistopheles – initial mistrust moving through an enjoyment of decades of indulgence leading to a cold lack of sympathy at the end – but that is not something brought to the fore in David Fletcher’s adaptation or direction.
Amy Carroll’s set design is nicely versatile. Giant book spines from the world of academia surround a central circle again bearing the image of more packed shelves.
Books abound among the props too sometimes treasured, sometimes thrown aside in the relentless pursuit of knowledge.
Atmospheric lighting and a varied score by Jonathan Fletcher, channelling everything from metal to Catholic liturgy, add to a production full of effect.
Disembodied voices provide regular exhortations to Faustus to repent or re-double, and the projected appearance of Faustus’s life literally spooling out before him was masterly.
The final descent into hell is nicely handled as he is consumed by flames made of the very sins he’s been embracing. In a production leaning heavily on physical presentation this was a suitably balletic ending.
This is a very watchable, ultimately enjoyable presentation of what can be a heavyweight classic and what changes are made are more intriguing than irritating.
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