The scariest puppet show since Fraggle Rock

Darn it, what to do about that nagging, irritating quest for ultimate knowledge and power?

The Yale Dramat's new experimental production, Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus, leads us through one possible answer to the question—why not sell your soul to the devil? It takes us through the consequences of the devil's deals with interesting artistic direction, a well-directed ensemble featuring a few great performances, and a well-written script.

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Marlowe, played by Cem Ozdeniz, SY '02, opens the play by breaking away the fourth wall and directly addressing the audience, introducing puppet motifs as he shoves a Faustus action figure around a moveable stage. The curtain opens and we see Faustus (Nate Schenkkan, BR '02) in his study. He laments his current situation—he is a scholar who has learned everything that conventional books have to teach him and seeks to unlock the world's most intimate secrets. Tempted by the well-choreographed movements of Cornelius (Erik A. Johnson, PC '02) and Jean Valdez (David Valdez, DC '01), he learns the art of "necromancy," known more commonly as magic. After raising vicious demon Mephistopheles (Ross Wachsman, ES '02) from hell, Faustus makes a fateful deal, selling his soul for four-and-20 years, during which he can satisfy all of his lustful curiosities. He even makes the deal with devilish enthusiasm: "Had I as many souls as there be stars, I'd give them all for Mephistopheles!" The second act continues with raucous antics until the final reckoning.

The script itself warrants applause. Sewn together from two different Marlowe works, it retains the Elizabethan flavor of Marlowe's dialogue while allowing plenty of room for artistic experimentation. And experiment they do. Artistic Director Ryan Iverson, SY '02, introduces a puppetry motif complete with a sultry orgy of the seven deadly sins in puppet form, manipulated on stage by the black-clad ensemble whose movements were as well-staged and fluid as the puppets were suggestive. In one brilliantly devised and executed puppet scene, Mephistopheles and Faustus ruffle the mock solemnity of a puppet procession at the Vatican. The puppets are not entirely successful, however. Masks in the walls flanking the stage are hackneyed representations of good and bad. Mephistopheles enters strapped to a jurasso-skeleton puppet, and a lot is needed to overcome the distraction the unusual structure creates for the audience. It is a great relief when Wachsman sheds his puppet exoskeleton after the first act.

Schenkkan carries his role well, but is pretty placid for a man struggling with the destiny of his damned soul. Wachsman is a joy to watch as a devil who goes from meddling to sulking to lurking to tempting with alacrity. Maeve Herbert, DC '04, also offers a great performance as Lady Lucifer, clad in a white sheath that looks like it was singed on the fall down from hell, with one arm transformed into that infamous snake and the other constantly poised in a come-hither gesture. Perhaps the most impressive part of her performance is the skill with which she manipulates her voice, her demonic laugh a well-trained blend of cackle and giggle, and her stern pronouncements lisped out of her lower register.

Director Michael Schulman's, DC '03, staging is praiseworthy. The beats are well timed and the entire play is paced well. While the production is staged with an eye to still poses, there is no wasted time between them. The movement in this play is capitalized upon so that body antics become part of the play's interest. The way the devils move their bodies with grace, as if they themselves were slippery, and the intricate staging that showcases Faustus, though relegating many of the other actors to their knees, is virtually flawless. The score is well chosen but not surprising. Most notable are the noises that come from the actors' voices as they recreate the sounds of churchly liturgy or of hell.

Theater

By Christopher Marlowe Fri., Oct. 13 at 7 and 10 p.m. Sat., Oct. 14 at 2, 7, and 10 p.m. The Experimental Theater

The play succeeds most notably in humor. The ensemble cast here shows great timing and cohesiveness, lightening the mood of what could otherwise be a moralistic production. The puppets, with a few minor exceptions, prevent the play from being a tale of the struggle of good versus evil, but turns it into an intricate landscape of psychology and choices. At times, however, the disturbing qualities of a pact with Satan are lost. While Mephistopheles succeeds in explaining the grim realities of being denied seeing God's glory in the afterlife and Lucifer details delightfully the tortures of hell Faustus will undergo, Faustus' internal conflict seems minimized. He remains unwavering, except for a few timid moments of self-doubt. Carnage scenes, probably intended as menacing, fizzle as devils scamper about the stage doing violence and rehashing Dante's vision of hell.

The production atones for this indecision, however, with the haunting end to the puppetry and an impressively lit closing scene. The production's final image remains burned into the viewers' retinas as the lights fade.

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