Dr Faustus/The Devil is an Ass. To 26 March.
London
DR FAUSTUS/THE DEVIL IS AN ASS
by Christopher Marlowe/Ben Jonson
White Bear Theatre 138 Kennington Park Road SE11 To 26 March 2006
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Sun 4pm
Runs 2hr 20min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7793 9193
www.ticketweb.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 11 March
Less than sophisticated verse-speaking in a fascinating coupling.
This pairing is the sort of inspired idea that marks out a true director (as does daringly stripping 2 full length classics to an hour apiece). Both these plays involve earth and the underworld, one looking back to medieval beliefs and in towards the soul, the other out towards society and everyday activities (ie sex and money-making). It’s a contrast between the spirits of Elizabethan and Jacobean England, one remembering the Reformation’s religious intensity, the other looking towards urban capitalist society.
The difficulty, as so often with Fringe productions, lies in handling the language of poetic drama. Verse-speaking rarely rises above the competent and sometimes falls below. Yet there are good details, Faustus’ opening emphasis on being “a divine in show” suggests he’s already disposed towards secret risk-taking, while the hands offering him books through the curtaining of Jessamy Willson-Pepper’s set imply an appetite for learning, fed by outside agencies The ‘Che sera, sera’ tag becomes unusually intelligible as a sentence climax in Richard Keightley’s performance.
Mostly though, the impact lies in how the production looks. Phil Bentley’s lighting contrasts subdued colours in restricted areas for the Faustus scenes, and a brighter spread for the comic interpolations (Charlie Palmer’s Robin making a good impression). And Faustus becomes increasingly pained and bent as his 24 years pass. No wonder his comic adventures are cut; the man is on a non-stop downhill slide.
It’s a shrewd idea to double Max Berendt’s Chorus with the Old Man who tries saving Faustus’ soul; theirs are the speeches that most moralise. By contrast, Helen of Troy’s spirit gives Faustus two extensive snogs: she could really be sucking forth his soul.
Berendt recurs as Pug, the young devil let loose in Ben Jonson’s London and finding it all too much. Robert Forknall gives an outlandish performance to match his fantasticated foppish costume as the foolish Fitzdottrell. Like many Jonson gulls, he’s prey to conmen with plausible (to him) and incredible (to us) schemes. Often hectically busy, the satire comes over more in fury than subtlety. But McIntyre’s shrewd double-billing offers an illuminating look across the Renaissance mindscape.
Dr Faustus:
Chorus: Max Berendt
Faustus: Richard Keightley
Mephastophilis: Matt Robinson
Good Angel/Helen of Troy: Charlotte Ammerlaan
Evil Angel/Scholar: Penny Scott-Andrews
Lucifer/Rafe: Richard Keynes
Belzebub/Vintner: Suzannah Gardner
Wagner: Andrew Shepherd
Robin: Charlie Palmer
Scholars: Robert Forknall, Robert Wilson
The Devil is an Ass:
Lucifer/Manly/Engine: Richard Keynes
Pug: Max Berendt
Fitzdottrel: Robert Forknall
Frances: Charlotte Ammerlaan
Wittipol: Robert Wilson
Merecraft: Andrew Shepherd
Sir Paul Eitherside: Richard Keightley
Lady Eitherside: Penny Scott-Andrews
Lady Tailbush: Suzannah Gardner
Ambler: Charlie Palmer
Shackles: Matt Robinson
Director: Blanche McIntyre
Designer: Jessamy Willson-Pepper
Lighting: Phil Bentley
Costume: Robert Forknall
2006-03-15 01:43:36