Published: 17 June 2010
by JOSHUA SURTEES

ON an atmospherically bedecked stage in a shiny new theatre, the tragedy of Dr Faustus has been transformed into a spectacularly droll comedy. 

Stripped down to just three characters, this cosy domestic spectacle at times borders on sitcom rather than the fiery furnaces of hell. 

As director John Wright points out, ­heaven and hell are archaic concepts in modern society, but rather than making redundant the central plot of Marlowe’s story – Faustus’s pact with the devil – Wright’s ­adaption turns the philosophical debate into a ­magnificently raucous farce. Little could Marlowe have expected in 1592 that his darkly comic play would one day feature 21st-century elements like Viagra and Heat magazine.  

But more than the witty contemporary references and clever use of props, what lends this play its sublime touch is the appropriation of characters and the wonderful performances.

Alone in his book-laden study, Nicholas Collett plays a facetious Faustus who, having absorbed all academic learning – from Aris­totle to Jerome’s Bible – grows impatient waiting for heavenly pleasures in the next life and calls forth satanic helpers.

Mephistopheles, played with brilliant calm and sinister callousness by Anthony Gleave, mocks our hapless “hero” with glimpses of the hell he has opted into. Then, the sassiest Lucifer imaginable (Shelley Atkinson) ups the ante and the sacrilegious duo lead the doctor on an all-singing, all-dancing merry dance through the seven deadly sins – to the brink of repentance and back again. Marlowe’s Mephis­topheles tells us that “fools who laugh on earth must weep in hell”. In this uplifting production, it’s a price worth paying.

Until June 26 • 0844 2090 344