Missy Lorelei reviews the Citizens' production of Doctor Faustus.
A cheeky, often subversive take on the Marlowe classic, adapted by Colin Teevan, this is the Faustus story for the Cameron generation, brimful of paranoia, celebrity-chasing and economic meltdown.
Kevin Trainor in the title role is excellent as he transforms from uber-geek to greedy frat boy, and the device of the cast of grotesques watching from the side judging him really works as a comment on 24-hour CCTV surveillance. There is great supporting work from Oliver Wilson as the Bad Angel and Alasdair Hankinson and Esther Ruth Elliott in multiple roles.
Visually, it's flawless—a gorgeous, backstage set by Colin Richmond is vintage heaven in imagined Hell, with champagne, plush Hollywood backdrops, costume and sumptuous magic tricks which delight in sheer audaciousness. Masks are beautifully deployed.
Really, if there is a slight problem, it is the unbalanced tone—it is a production which seems to have a dip in sugar levels in the second half, descending into an extended series of shape-shifting pop videos, more Baz Luhrmann than Terry Gilliam, with a race to cram in as many ideas as possible: thus, Lucifer is a game show host parading the Seven Sins like trophies, ultimate beauty Helen is a man in drag and the wonderful Siobhan Redmond's Mephistopheles is an imperious, sexy but ultimately terrifying Amazonian with a jarring accent.
Kally Lloyd-Jones' choreography is fine and great campy fun, especially within the speedy orgy sequence and Beyonce/Elvis cover versions in Vegas, but the all-singing, all-dancing irreverence is on occasion too coy, when a more direct approach might hit harder. It seems tailor-made for kids at times, which is not really how Faustus should play out. Faustus doesn't so much sell his soul as go on a slightly debauched holiday.
Satirical tickles on the Pope's 'indulgences' and bankers’ greed notwithstanding, more dark shades would be perhaps more appropriate than cartoonish Technicolor, with an emphasis on the grotesque—yet, the good far outweighs the bad (especially the self-reflexive gags on the play losing its direction) and it is for the most part as big and gutsy as Greed itself.
Doctor Faustus performs at the Citizens until April 27, 2013.
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