Review: Dr Faustus at The Lowry

Christopher Marlowe’s ‘Dr Faustus’ came to The Lowry theatre in Salford Quays yesterday.

The play has been adapted by Kerry Frampton, the artistic director, and Ben Hales This is the second showing of the play by ‘Splendid Productions’ of seven, and they will be touring different locations in the UK.

See you there! https://t.co/cBmzAsZ3kN

— Splendid Productions (@Team_Splendid) November 19, 2019

The narrative of the story surrounds the main character ‘Faustus’, an intelligent and successful man, who lives in Germany. He becomes dissatisfied with his life and longs for more.

As he starts out his new career as a magician, he summons a Devil, ‘Mephistopheles’. ‘Faustus’ wishes to have the Devil as his servant; but he is warned about the consequences of this.

However, ‘Faustus’ insists and ‘Mephistopheles’ is sent away to speak to Lucifer. ‘Faustus’ makes a deal with Lucifer to sell his sole in return for ‘Mephistopheles’ to be his servant.

The story then follows ‘Faustus’ realizing his mistakes and paying the consequences for them, ultimately resulting in him giving his soul to Lucifer.

All parts in the play are portrayed by three actors using a range of props and costumes to tell the story. This shows the pure talent of the three actors morphing into different characters.

The performance engaged audiences throughout, with the actors talking to viewers and coming off stage to immerse the audience in the play, which made the performance vibrant and energetic.

The light and humorous element of the play was juxtaposed with the dark theme of hell and evil. Song was also used throughout the performance, with the cast singing and using instruments to tell the story. This reinforced the different themes and moods throughout the play, which made the show more exciting.

The hour long play was split up into episodes making it simple to follow, which was important, as it had an audience of mostly children. ‘Splendid Productions’ have also been putting on workshops for students. This is where they can develop film making skills such as directing, or script writing.