Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlow

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlow and Colin Teevan

Directed by Jamie Lloyd

Duke of York’s Theatre, London until June 25^th 2016

Jamie Lloyd has a wide spectrum of, usually very dark, talent. His delivery of The Ruling Class was brilliantly measured but his recent production of Jean Genet’s 1947 play The Maids, of two servants performing sadomasochistic ritual role-play involving plans to murder their mistress, was too sharp a dose of overkill. What will Lloyd do with Kit Hartington, Game of Thrones, in the title role in Marlow’s original play based on the German legend – wrap it up, as the illusionist who Faust becomes only to discover that celebrity lifestyle is not all it would appear.

There are some amazingly clever parts that make you admire the sheer genius that Lloyd has as a creative interpreter. There’s a chorus of characters running around, half naked and mostly bald which are reminiscent of the corrupt monks portrayed in Umberto Eco’s 1980 novel The Name of the Rose. In another scene, when Faustus has become a David Copperfield/Derren Brown superstar, President Obama comes on stage and thanks Faustus for conjuring up a meeting with his “predecessor” Abraham Lincoln who had been able to offer advice on the current State of the Union – a clear shot at racial inequality in contemporary America. There’s even a reference to Piero Manzoni, the conceptual artist who put his own excrement in a can and sold it as art: fans of Faustus think they are being given black truffles and caviar as the ultimate rich man’s food but actually they are eating….Again Lloyd triumphs in his layering of nothing is as it seems; especially in the world of a professional illusionist. While there are multiple pertinent aspects the overall effect is almost too disturbing due to the excess of Lloyd’s multi faceted genius.

Lloyd certainly gets the most out of his cast and anyone going purely for Kit Harington won’t be disappointed as he portrays an excellent modern Doctor Faustus who becomes, almost messiah like (echoes of Lloyd’s version of The Ruling Class) in the latter stages of the inevitable tragedy. Also notable is Jenna Gardens as Mephistopheles who even does a rendition of Meat Loaf’s, yes you guessed it, Bat out of Hell. During the interval, when the audience is trying to recover from a heavy first half, Sympathy for the Devil blasts out and then it becomes clear: there really is no room for light relief.