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"DR. FAUSTUS" GMU's Theater of the First Amendment Fairfax, VA (703) 993-8888 through November 22 reviewed by David Sobelsohn The Devil's New Tricks The historical Doctor Faustus lived in early 16th-century Germany and was probably christened Johannes Faust. He gained notoriety in local inns and taverns as an astrologer, conjurer, and vicious practical jokester. Around him accumulated a host of legends. The most enduring--Faust's bargain with the devil--has inspired plays, novels, and operas. The story hit the stage first in "Dr. Faustus," by Shakespeare contemporary Christopher Marlowe (1564-93). The play runs through November 22 at George Mason University's Center for the Arts. Despite its flaws, this "Doctor" deserves a visit. Go to hear Marlowe's timeless poetry. Many of Marlowe's lines have lasted through the centuries, including Faustus' reaction to Helen of Troy: "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships/And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?" And go to see some of the Washington area's finest actors. Edward Gero, GMU faculty member and Shakespeare Theatre regular, gives a bravura performance as the damned doctor. Gero brings energy and intensity to this cynical intellectual, a man who trades his soul for knowledge, pleasure, and power, then, too late, realizes his mistake. You can see Faustus' slide from arrogant ambition to hopeless despair in Gero's expressive eyes. Another GMU faculty member, Timmy Ray James in shaved head and goatee, makes a wonderfully wicked Mephastophilis, a devil with sympathy for Faustus but determined to enlarge the kingdom of Lucifer, his boss (played with wit as a Mafia don by Hugh Nees). Jonathan Tindle does a fine job as Faustus' opportunistic servant Wagner, and Brad Alan Waller (yet another GMU teacher) shines in two small roles, Gluttony (one of the Seven Deadly Sins) and a horse-trader. Marty Lodge (as the Chorus, a kind of narrator), Lawrence Redmond (in three small roles), and eleven current and recent GMU students round out the cast of 18 for director Rick Davis, artistic director of Theater of the First Amendment. Davis has used the play in large part as a learning experience for GMU students, and their performance generally falls far below that of the professionals (John Slone comes closest as Robin, a town buffoon). But with such a large cast, filling supporting roles with students might have been the only way to produce this rarely performed classic. Howard Vincent Kurtz, head of TFA's costume department, provided spectacular costumes, especially for various monarchs, clergy, conjurers, and minor devils. His inspiration seemed to have failed, however, in a scene showcasing the Seven Deadly Sins, attiring them all in virtually identical white--a strange contrast with the uniform black of many of the lead characters, including the Chorus, Faustus, Wagner, and top devils Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephastophilis. The most startling aspect of this production, however, is its staging. Davis has set the story partly in Marlowe's time, and partly in the 19th and late 20th centuries. So when Lucifer gives Faustus a book of black magic it's a PowerBook. Later, Faustus and Mephastophilis travel to an American southern plantation, the Vatican during the Holocaust, and the 19th century American west. Presumably Davis meant to suggest bargains with the devil by southern slaveholders, Nazi collaborators, and western pioneers, but the idea doesn't quite work. The exact era of the plantation isn't clear--screening the last few minutes of "Gone With the Wind" during the scene didn't help--and the scene out west revolves around a joke Faustus plays on a horse-trader, a person with uncertain links to the Native American genocide. One wishes Davis had made his point more forcefully. More inventive, and with great potential, was Davis's use, with the help of multi-media designers (and fellow GMU faculty) Kirby Malone and Gail Scott White, of huge projection screens around the theater. These screens help with scene changes, from Faustus' library to a Renaissance street to the western prairie; provide translations of Faustus' several quotations of Latin; and serve up striking photographic and video images, mostly related to the action. At times the projections prove distracting rather than helpful: the audience sits on opposite sides of a runway thrust stage, with screens above them, so you sometimes have to divert your attention from the stage to catch the projection. Too often the production seems more determined to show off its technical prowess than support the story. But 21st century theater will stress multimedia, and it's to Davis's credit that he made TFA's first effort the timeless story of Dr. Faustus. If he and his team overreached, it's a sin not limited to 16th century conjurers. -end-
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