Faust

Synopsis

The legend of a man whose obsession leads him to part with his everlasting soul.

Our Review:

19 October 2006

Punchdrunk by name, punchdrunk by nature. The latest theatre company to receive Nicholas Hytner's NT patronage, Punchdrunk made their name last year with The Firebird Ball, a merging of Romeo and Juliet and the Russian folk myth, The Firebird, in promenade.

Promenading around derelict buildings has suddenly become big business. Some may remember Deborah Warner's subtly terrifying installation inside Gilbert Scott's wonderful gothic pile, the Midland hotel at St Pancras. Others will cite, more recently, Shunt, who forsook their Hackney arches for ones underneath London Bridge at the NT's instigation, only to find that institutional approval can be a poisoned chalice.

Dreamthinkspeak are another young company keen to break the bonds of passive theatregoing. Their Dostoyevsky-adapted Underground last year, set in an abandoned abbatoir in Smithfields, was as stylish a piece of promenade installation theatre as I can remember. Now we have Punchdru...

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Latest User Review

PaulH - 13 March 2007:

Astonishing, there's simply no other word to describe this production. I've seen 'Faust' five times already with one final visit to come (and I *never* see things more than once). It still haunts my dreams....

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