Dr Faustus on a sunny afternoon

This is the first Monday I’ve stayed at home in months and I had no idea how crap the TV is on Mondays and even the digital TV is only showing the shopping channels for some reason…

What would I give up to get some decent entertainment tonight?

£2.50 for a DVD?

£35 for a theatre ticket?

Sleep for late night clubbing?

Liver cells for some wine?

Well, after Saturday I know not to give my soul to Lucifer!

Dr Faustus by Caravanserai at the Bridewell Theatre in which our good friends Claire and Jeff provided much of the laughs taught me that…Laughs? In Dr Faustus? I hear you ask…Oh, yes, and not just laughs but more than a little sexual tension and some nudity too…

Yes, it’s the same story but with a modern staging: Dr Faustus succumbs to his desires, conjures up the devil and signs away his soul in return for absolute power. That is despite the warnings of Mephistophilis that hell is here and now; it’s other people; it’s not being in paradise…

We watch Faustus enjoy his power while every now and then doubt whether he’s done the right thing. He does repent in the end but too late. At the very end of the show, we see him as a foetus surrounded by the good and bad angels, Mephistophilis and Lucifer. The good angel and Mephistophilis shake hands as colleagues may do as the soul of Faustus is taken through to his next life…After all they are colleagues just doing their jobs and it’s up to us to choose good or evil! That was the most effective moment of the play and the moral of the story.

That’s the play. How about the staging and acting? I enjoyed both. To be honest I was expecting the usual things you may expect from amateur dramatics. I went to see it mainly because of two of my friends were in it; and partly because I’d always meant to see the play and as research to see the level of acting. But I was pleasantly surprised.

It’s a long play but it captivated me – despite the hot afternoon we left outside during the matinee. And the staging with lightening flashes, mist, lights (and hmmm, yes, nudity too) kept me on the edge of my seat.

Only on one occasion I thought the staging was a bit too much for my senses…the scene with the seven sins which was a mixture of music, dance and monologues. But until my friend C jumped on the table and shouted “I am gluttony”, I was too busy with the visuals to pay attention to the monologues. What made me notice her was not the fact that she is a friend but that she managed to rise above the cacophony of the scene. She rocked! Made gluttony so much fun that we all really wanted to catch one of the sweets she threw to the audience. C was also one of the three scholars and was very scholarly indeed but “I am gluttony” will stay with me forever!

J, the other friend, as Benvolio and horse courser was the other comic highlight of the play. As usual alcohol had made Benvolio see and speak of the truth of Faustus much more clearly and honestly than the sobriety of the others that must have blinded them. So well played that we all felt for Benvolio when he woke up with horns on his head. Perhaps, it didn’t look like J enjoyed the horse courser as much but it was enjoyable for us.

All the other actors, and especially Faustus and Mephistophilis were very good too: in particular the latter as I thought he was gorgeous with a dangerous look – perfectly cast…well, OK, he also looked like Lenardo di Caprio…Oh, and the guy who played the Pope and girl who played the bad angel…

It’s interesting how every time both good and bad angels were on stage talking to Faustus I believed in what the good angel said but could not keep my eyes off the bad angel…evil is definitely more tempting…And while I won’t sell my soul to Devil, I sure won’t stay at home on a Monday night again!