“Lazarus Theatre Company has found a wonderful Faustus in Jamie O’Neill”
Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus is his most famous play—and the one that inspired, and continues to inspire—a host of distinguished dramas. Playwrights Goethe and Gertrude Stein are just two who fell under the spell of Doctor Faustus. But anyone who has read Marlowe’s script knows it’s a beast to make sense of. In this production at the Southwark Playhouse, the Lazarus Theatre Company manages its production of Doctor Faustus in a way that is both accessible and enticing. Dare I say diabolically so? Director Ricky Dukes has done a brilliant job in cutting the script to a manageable ninety minutes, and at a pace that makes the time fly by. He has also assembled a cast and crew up to the challenge of making this Renaissance gem coherent and entertaining for a modern audience. If you’re Faustus curious, this is the show to see.
Set in Wittenberg in the fifteenth century, Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus is the story of an academic who has learned everything there is to learn. He’s frustrated, understandably so, by the limitations of the Renaissance curriculum. He’s also a proud man, and attracted by power. He’s found that studying astrology, medicine, law, and even divinity, is not enough to satisfy his curiosity about the universe. Only studying the dark arts can satisfy his desire for knowledge, and provide him with the power that knowledge gives him over his fellow humans. To a Renaissance audience, the outcome of such an overweening power grab would be obvious from the outset. The appearance of good and bad angels, warning of the evils of such a quest, would be expected. Marlowe’s genius in Doctor Faustus is to show the audience how it all plays out. He does so with the most marvelous language—Marlowe’s “mighty line”—and a host of unforgettable characters. Even the Seven Deadly Sins make an appearance. But the most memorable character is Mephistopheles, the devil’s henchman—the one responsible for getting Faustus to sign away his soul, in blood, on the dotted line.
The Lazarus Theatre Company has found a wonderful Faustus in Jamie O’Neill. He manages a lithe athleticism and intelligent delivery that serves him well with both the language and action of this demanding role. He is ably partnered by David Angland’s Mephistopheles, who displays just the right amount of disdain at the tasks Faustus sets him. There are some genuinely surprising moments produced by the talented ensemble of performers who act, sing and dance around the doomed doctor. Director Dukes is just as skilled a director as he is an adaptor. Candis Butler Jones takes on terror in interesting and innovative ways as she glides from the Bride from Hell to Lucifer. The whole cast is equally as accomplished in the ways they morph from good to evil; from scholarship to sin, and from temptation to the concept of divine mercy understood, at last, too late. Stefan Capper, Rachel Kelly, Henry Mettle, Charis Murray, Jordan Peedell, Henrietta Rhodes and Hamish Somers keep up the pace. They perform, in convincing detail, the consequences of Faustus’ pride.
This dynamic production takes place on a small set populated with flexible office equipment, and with a curtain that reveals and conceals. There is also an eye-catching collection of dramaturgical wallpaper that must have taken set designer Sorcha Corcoran an age to compile. It is tempting to ask if she got some help. Costume designer Reuben Speed provides visually striking costumes, particularly for the Seven Deadly Sins, which are slyly appropriate. Composer Bobby Locke produces an edgy sound for this production of Doctor Faustus, and Lighting Designer Stuart Glover and Sound Designer Sam Glossop round out what feels like a big show in a small space.
The devil really is in the details in the Lazarus Theatre Company’s production of Doctor Faustus, but you don’t need to risk your soul to enjoy it. Catch if you can.
MY LOVER WAS A SALMON IN THE CLIMATE APOCALYPSE at Edinburgh Festival Fringe
★★★
“the Bradán Theatre Company is onto something significant with their intimate, confessional style of presentation”
My Lover Was A Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse is a whimsical piece, presented by the Irish Bradán Theatre Company. It has several strengths, and one significant weakness. Nonetheless, the energy and charm of this company is worth sixty minutes of your time. With more experience, Bradán should have a bright future, climate catastrophe notwithstanding. Directed by Kate Bauer and written by James Ireland, My Lover Was A Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse is a show that will capture the imagination, even if the script still needs some work.
The Bradán Theatre Company (the word bradán means salmon in Irish) start their show with music, and you could be forgiven for thinking that this is the company’s main strength. Rory Gradon, Elinor Peregrine and the marvellous Elisabeth Flett (on violin and recorder at the back of the stage) present their story through Irish tunes, and Irish mythology, beginning with some lively jigs and the story of Finn MacCool (an Irish legend responsible for the Giant’s Causeway). My Lover Was A Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse is not about mythical giants, however. It is about a young couple, Fin (played by Gradon) and Fiona (Peregrine), navigating their relationship through times of unprecedented ecological disaster. Sam (Flett) stays in the background, commenting musically on the couple’s love story, and with some very funny facial expressions, as required. Sam is the anchor keeping us grounded in reality in this strange, and quirky tale. In a nutshell, My Lover Was A Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse is about the overly sensitive Finn. Finn identifies with the disappearing salmon off the coast of Ireland to such an extent that he begins to become one, much to Fiona’s distress.
The show is not just a story about a relationship, however, and this is where the script begins to show signs of strain. In addition to Finn and Fiona’s love story, we’re treated to mass extinctions, Irish mythology all mixed up with Irish history, and the importance of salmon as a way of keeping the population alive when there was very little to eat. The salmon make an appearance, pursued by orcas, their natural predators in the ocean. And then there are the salmon fisheries. All these elements are accompanied by wonderful music. As you might expect, Finn’s obsession with salmon takes its toll on his longstanding relationship with Fiona. This is where the show takes an existential, out of species leap, and the script collapses, much like the salmon populations of Ireland. With climate apocalypse the subject of this piece, maybe that’s intentional. Nevertheless, the Bradán Theatre Company is onto something significant with their intimate, confessional style of presentation. With a stronger script, and more development of the characters, this is a potentially a wonderful show that should play well to audiences everywhere.
If plays about climate catastrophe appeal to you, catch My Lover Was A Salmon in the Climate Apocalypse. You’ll get to savour sixty minutes of salmon related themes, accompanied by terrific music. That’s not a bad haul for audiences looking for something a little wilder on a climate theme, and off an overly familiar shore.
Reviewed 9th August 2022
by Dominica Plummer
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