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Free Theatre is presenting an encore season of the award-winning* Faust Chroma - an "erotic and insightful exploration of guilt, evil, repression and the importance of art" (Berenike, Canta). Described by reviewers as "masterful and engaging," "visually startling," and a "creative coalescence of movement and speech," Faust Chroma is sure to be a highlight of the 2008 Platform Arts Festival.
Goethe's Faust is to Germany what Shakespeare's Hamlet is to the English-speaking world: the greatest play, by the greatest author, creating the greatest national role. Faust is the prototype German character, always striving, never satisfied, who therefore makes a pact with the devil. In the 20th Century, Faust's narrative was compared with the German nation's pact with the Nazis. The most famous productions of Faust in the last century were directed by Gustaf Gründgens, who also played the devil (Mephistopheles). Hermann Göring, the designated successor of Hitler, had appointed Gründgens as head of all the state-run theatres in the Reich.
Faust Chroma begins with Gründgens' 1963 death in his hotel room in Manila, Philippines, and his roles - both in theatre and life - flash before his eyes. As reviewer Lin Clark writes, "the characters in Gründgen's world are chameleon creatures, often human puppets, in a dark landscape of the mind" (theatreview.org.nz). Playwright Werner Fritsch reinterprets Gründgens as the guilt-ridden but defiant Faust who is visited by his alter ego, Mephistopheles. In the Free Theatre production, scenes from Faust interplay with scenes from Gründgens' life to explore how, in modern times, performers have taken the place of politicians and politicians have become actors. As with the chameleon, changing colours is the key to survival and power in our time.
Directed by Peter Falkenberg. Text by Werner Fritsch.
Presented in association with the Department of Theatre and Film Studies, as part of the Platform Arts Festival (University of Canterbury).
*Best Theatre, Dunedin Fringe Festival, April 2008
