FAUSTUS

What would you give for fame, fortune and boundless knowledge?

The pact Faustus makes with the devil is well known: he pledges his soul in exchange for 24 years with Lucifer’s number one demon Mephistophilis as his ‘servant’.

Yet Faustus pays his money but doesn’t really get his choice.

Co-produced by Bell Shakespeare and Queensland Theatre Company, Michael Gow’s adaptation weaves together Christopher Marlowe’s After Doctor Faustus and Goethe’s Urfaust with other influences that include John Milton, John Donne and the King James Bible.

This is a dark play but with a rich vein of dark humour, much of it due to John Bell’s Mephistophilis who is an acerbic agent in this staged exchange.

By the end it is hard to see what Dr Faustus (Ben Winspear) has gained but evident what he has lost, including the innocent girl he seduces and destroys, Gretchen (Kathryn Marquet).

This production has it all: devils, the seven deadly sins, masks, puppets, opera, live-film, video, fairy and Santa dolls, and great music that includes Schubert, Mahler, Gounod, Liszt, Berlioz and death metal.

Bell and Winspear dominate the stage but Vanessa Downing (Hecate), Jason Klarwein (Lucifer) and Catherine Terracini (Belzebub) give strong performances across various roles.

Until Jul 24, Sydney Opera House, $50-60, 9250 7777, sydneyoperahouse.com.au