"DR. FAUSTUS" GMU's Theater of the First Amendment Fairfax, VA (703) 993-8888
through November 22
reviewed by David Sobelsohn
The Devil's New Tricks
The historical Doctor Faustus lived in early 16th-century Germany and was probably
christened Johannes Faust. He gained notoriety in local inns and taverns as an astrologer,
conjurer, and vicious practical jokester. Around him accumulated a host of legends. The
most enduring--Faust's bargain with the devil--has inspired plays, novels, and operas.
The story hit the stage first in "Dr. Faustus," by Shakespeare contemporary
Christopher Marlowe (1564-93). The play runs through November 22 at George Mason
University's Center for the Arts. Despite its flaws, this "Doctor" deserves a
visit.
Go to hear Marlowe's timeless poetry. Many of Marlowe's lines have lasted through the
centuries, including Faustus' reaction to Helen of Troy: "Was this the face that
launched a thousand ships/And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?"
And go to see some of the Washington area's finest actors. Edward Gero, GMU faculty
member and Shakespeare Theatre regular, gives a bravura performance as the damned doctor.
Gero brings energy and intensity to this cynical intellectual, a man who trades his soul
for knowledge, pleasure, and power, then, too late, realizes his mistake. You can see
Faustus' slide from arrogant ambition to hopeless despair in Gero's expressive eyes.
Another GMU faculty member, Timmy Ray James in shaved head and goatee, makes a
wonderfully wicked Mephastophilis, a devil with sympathy for Faustus but determined to
enlarge the kingdom of Lucifer, his boss (played with wit as a Mafia don by Hugh
Nees).
Jonathan Tindle does a fine job as Faustus' opportunistic servant Wagner, and Brad Alan
Waller (yet another GMU teacher) shines in two small roles, Gluttony (one of the Seven
Deadly Sins) and a horse-trader. Marty Lodge (as the Chorus, a kind of narrator), Lawrence
Redmond (in three small roles), and eleven current and recent GMU students round out the
cast of 18 for director Rick Davis, artistic director of Theater of the First Amendment.
Davis has used the play in large part as a learning experience for GMU students, and their
performance generally falls far below that of the professionals (John Slone comes closest
as Robin, a town buffoon). But with such a large cast, filling supporting roles with
students might have been the only way to produce this rarely performed classic.
Howard Vincent Kurtz, head of TFA's costume department, provided spectacular costumes,
especially for various monarchs, clergy, conjurers, and minor devils. His inspiration
seemed to have failed, however, in a scene showcasing the Seven Deadly Sins, attiring them
all in virtually identical white--a strange contrast with the uniform black of many of the
lead characters, including the Chorus, Faustus, Wagner, and top devils Lucifer,
Belzebub,
and Mephastophilis.
The most startling aspect of this production, however, is its staging. Davis has set
the story partly in Marlowe's time, and partly in the 19th and late 20th centuries. So
when Lucifer gives Faustus a book of black magic it's a PowerBook. Later, Faustus and
Mephastophilis travel to an American southern plantation, the Vatican during the
Holocaust, and the 19th century American west. Presumably Davis meant to suggest bargains
with the devil by southern slaveholders, Nazi collaborators, and western pioneers, but the
idea doesn't quite work. The exact era of the plantation isn't clear--screening the last
few minutes of "Gone With the Wind" during the scene didn't help--and the scene
out west revolves around a joke Faustus plays on a horse-trader, a person with uncertain
links to the Native American genocide. One wishes Davis had made his point more
forcefully.
More inventive, and with great potential, was Davis's use, with the help of multi-media
designers (and fellow GMU faculty) Kirby Malone and Gail Scott White, of huge projection
screens around the theater. These screens help with scene changes, from Faustus' library
to a Renaissance street to the western prairie; provide translations of Faustus' several
quotations of Latin; and serve up striking photographic and video images, mostly related
to the action. At times the projections prove distracting rather than helpful: the
audience sits on opposite sides of a runway thrust stage, with screens above them, so you
sometimes have to divert your attention from the stage to catch the projection. Too often
the production seems more determined to show off its technical prowess than support the
story. But 21st century theater will stress multimedia, and it's to Davis's credit that he
made TFA's first effort the timeless story of Dr. Faustus. If he and his team overreached,
it's a sin not limited to 16th century conjurers. -end-
George Mason University - The Center for the Arts
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