Doctor Faustus
by Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe's play tells the story of Doctor Faustus, who, at the beginning, has reached the
limits of human knowledge. He sells his soul to the devil for twenty-four years of unlimited knowledge and power, and then
fritters away most of his time on cheap theatricals and conjuring tricks. Only when the time comes for Faustus
to deliver up his soul does he realise the true horror of the bargain that he has made. The great speech which covers
the last hour of his life is an agonising expression of the terrors facing him when the devil finally comes to carry him off to hell.
The play was probably written towards the end of Marlowe's short life, though there is much controversy over its date and
over the authenticity of the two very different versions of the text which survive. The play was probably written towards the end of Marlowe's short life, though there is much controversy over its date and
over the authenticity of the two very different versions of the text which survive.
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Few scholars are prepared to ascribe the whole play to Marlowe. The major scenes have all the characteristics of
Marlowe's best work, but the farcical scenes in the middle are generally ascribed to another hand, possibly that of Samuel Rowley.
This production used a combination of the two major texts of the play.
Faustus himself is clearly the creation of Marlowe: a man refusing to be confined by the normal limits of human knowledge
and power, and striving through black magic to achieve more than any other man. His failure is almost as spectacular as his
original ambitions.
Hunger for power is the main driving force behind black magic, and carried to its extreme, the black magician's ambition
is to wield supreme power over the whole universe: to make himself a god.
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"Doctor Faustus" Set Design
Most of the major scenes of the play take place in Faustus's study, so this was the main setting of the action.
The four major branches of learning were represented by books and props on the walls, tables and floor of the study:
Religion, Medicine, the Arts and Magic. For the few scenes which take place elsewhere, like the audience with the Emperor,
and the disruption of the Pope's banquet, curtains were lowered in to indicate the change of location.
The costumes tried to capture the feel of the period when the play is set, and used colour to reflect character and mood.
Faustus began the play in the grey robes of a scholar, then donned a black robe covered with scarlet, magical symbols to
conjure up Mephistopheles.
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Finally, when Mephistopheles dressed him in rich robes to distract him from any concern about
his ultimate fate, he was swathed in red and gold.
There was plenty of opportunity for spectacle in the court scenes and the
procession of the Seven Deadly Sins, before darkness began to close in towards the end.
Although the play shows a Renaissance man trying to break free from the shackles of Medieval thought and superstition,
he fails to do so, and is dragged off to hell at the end. The conflict between Good and Evil is represented in the play by
the Good and Evil Angels, and in this production they were combined with the characters of the Chorus and the Old Man (Good Angel),
represented by a friar dressed in white, and Mephistopheles (Evil Angel), a friar dressed in black. (Yes, I know he should have
been dressed in brown as a Franciscan friar, but dramatic licence overrode historical accuracy!)
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