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Doctor Faustus

Christopher Marlowe’s mythic tale of mankind’s greed for power is given a modern day twist in our new co-production with West Yorkshire Playhouse, directed by Dominic Hill, with two acts re-written by Colin Teevan.

Faustus is restless for knowledge and his insatiable desire for notoriety has driven him to make a pact with the devil in return for the power to perform the black arts. Read more …

This life-changing decision propels him into the heady world of the rich and famous as he becomes a globe-trotting magician to the stars.  At last, women pay him attention, celebrities want to be his friend and he has the world at his feet to manipulate as he pleases.

But was the price worth paying?


The critical consensus

There is so much that is distinctive and interesting in Dominic Hill's Faustus that you are prepared to forgive the moments when it drags (particularly in the first half).

****(*)Lyn Gardner, The Guardian, 28/02/2013

The whole thing lacks focus and fire. The production does, however, contain some truly memorable individual moments - the masque of the seven deadly sins is inventively grotesque - and it makes witty use of stage illusion, suffused with tricks cheap and not so cheap. It’s in these scenes that its real power lies.

Natasha Tripney, The Stage, 28/02/2013

This collaboration between West Yorkshire Playhouse and Glasgow’s Citizen’s Theatre is an exciting and daringly realised production which is a thing of beauty to watch.

****(*)Jonathan Brown, The Independent, 01/03/2013

The end result is a radical, lively slice of vibrant theatre that does nothing to dilute the power of Marlowe’s tale, or his writing, but rather helps give it a helping hand to carry even more resonance for a modern audience.

Alan Chadwick, STV, 10/04/2013

The result is a show that offers many brilliant moments, one shudderingly brilliant performance, and a couple of good jokes about bankers, without really gripping the heart and mind as a whole drama; and audiences making their way to the Citizens’ can expect to be interested, and often entertained, without being astonished or changed, or even much moved.

***(*)(*)Joyce McMillan, 11/04/2013

Despite some confusion, which I suspect is due to my lack of knowledge of the play, Hill and Teevans give the Faustian story a relevance which will make me look at telly wannabes in a different light from now on.

***(*)(*)Anne Hogg, WhatsOnStage.com, 13/04/2013

[Meshes] the 16th-century poetry with the lazy debauchery of today’s boil-in-the-bag pleasures until it’s hard to see the joins.

****(*)Anna Burnside, The List, 17/04/2013


Features about Doctor Faustus

Faustus doctored as Marlowe gets a monster-inspired makeover

Alfred Hickling, The Guardian, 28/02/2013

New Citizens Theatre production of Doctor Faustus

Mark Brown, The List, 18/03/2013

The lady's for burning

Mark Fisher, The Scotsman, 30/03/2013

Preview: Doctor Faustus, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow

Mark Brown, Scottish Stage, 01/04/2013

Showbiz world is the backdrop for Doctor Faustus' devilish pact

Gillian Provan, STV, 15/04/2013

Doctor Faustus

Where and when?

Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow from Friday April 5, 2013, until Saturday April 27, 2013. More info: www.citz.co.uk

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