Faustus: That Damned Woman (NHB Modern Plays) (Nick Hern)

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In her excellent new book The Faust Legend, which gives a critical overview of the many iterations of the Faust story, Sara Munson Deats provides a damning gender-count. “All of the avatars treated in this study,” she notes, “with the exception of Yeats’s Countess Cathleen and Wedekind’s Franziska are male.” The character arc she has to pull off, written with such clarity and focus by Bush, is nothing short of miraculous for this is a story which doesn’t just span years but centuries and millennia. Extra Content: 'I wanted to create an epic, ambitious, gothic, baroque fever dream of a piece that took a well-known classic and inverted it to say something truthful about the contemporary female experience.' Chris Bush on her play Faustus: That Damned Woman, in The Guardian, 11 December 2019. Faustus: That Damned Woman was co-produced by Headlong and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, in association with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, and first performed at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre in January 2020 before touring the UK.

Caroline Byrne’s production is atmospheric, which aids some of the more meandering sections of the play. Ana Inés Jabares-Pita’s dark, smoky set has skeletal trees arching over and covered with rough canvas, creating a claustrophobic bomb shelter-like structure; after the fire, ash rains down in a desolate cloud, hauntingly lit by Richard Howell, who also contributes spooky shadows. Ian William Galloway’s projections clarify the time jumps, and underline Johanna’s vengeance spree by scratching off the names of her victims, and Giles Thomas’s sound design adds visceral impact. But this is a piece overflowing with ideas that never really coalesce into a satisfying, coherent drama.Directing Credits include: Cymbeline; Parliament Square; Constellations; The Heresy of Love (LAMDA); Icarus (Nottingham Playhouse); The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (New Vic Theatre); The Blue Bird (Theatre503/Tour); Ballistic (King’s Head Theatre); Tomorrow Creeps (VAULT Festival); Macbeths; I Know You Of Old (Hope Theatre); Horniman’s Choice (Finborough Theatre); and Twelfth Night (Manchester Victoria Baths). Each taking on the role of the ever present devil Mephistopheles, along with other roles, the ensemble cast are, quite simply, excellent. There is nothing more pleasing than watching an ensemble so in tune with one another, in their interpretation of the movement produced in collaboration with Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, and throughout the production. In one scene, Dzey Z Smith and Miriam O’Brien both puppeteer the body of Pierre Curie. It’s a real standout moment of the show, a skilfully executed performance and testament to what a truly collaborative performance can produce.

Jodie McNee is magnificent as Johanna, determined that “no man shall stand dominion over me” – not even the devil. She reduces Satan’s right-hand man, Mephistopheles, to little more than her assistant as she goes on her physical and personal journey to understand women’s potential. Danny Lee Wynter is amusingly foppish as her diabolical companion, part of a strong ensemble cast playing multiple parts. Despite its darkness, it’s very hopeful. It’s about legacy, it’s about living in a fearless way and facing death Inspired by a human connection with the four elements, Good Teeth design team have created a timeless setting. With tree roots bursting from the ceiling, as if under the earth, this could be hell. As Mephistopheles states in Marlowe’s interpretation ‘all places shall be hell, that are not heaven’. Dripping water, flaming walls, at any time we could be by a river, in a mansion, on the heath, but never far away from the eternal presence of hell and Mephistopheles.Emmanuella Cole ( pictured above with Danny Lee Wynter)and Alicia Charles are excellent in multiple roles, while Danny Lee Wynter makes for a delightfully flamboyant Mephistopheles – gestures are emphasised by his overlong sleeves, and he gives his devilish figure a silky insouciance (a doctor abusing young women is, he sighs, merely “tedious”). It’s an effective stylistic contrast with McNee’s zealous earnestness. However, we never really dig into this Mephistopheles’s psyche, other than getting a general enthusiasm for fire and blood. If the first half is a sort of mystical feminist revenge thriller then the second half is a sort of mystical feminist redemption saga, as Johanna resolves to do good with her power. That Bush never seems to interrogate the morality ofJohanna’stinkering– when the classic version of the myth is almost entirely about the morality of Johann’s tinkering– is one of the things that lost me as the play wore on. Bush’s heroine seemsto be presented as an avatar of unbounded female potential…but she also arrogantlymanipulates humanity to the brink of extinction, a fact that is extremely glossed over in moral and emotional terms. This play is also available as an A4 Edition. With spiral binding, a larger print size and additional space for notes, this format is ideal for directors, stage managers, actors and others to use in rehearsal and production. Several members of the ensemble take turns to become the character of Mephistopheles, which can often be grating to an audience forced to glare at the acting inconsistencies.

As a male critic, I'm infinitely aware that there's a danger of this review being turned into an examination of how men treat women who aspire to that greatness or their desire to tell great stories. But a piece of theatre can only be judged on its own terms of whether it engages its audience or not. Despite a highly atmospheric production by Caroline Byrne, and lively performances by a seven-strong cast spiritedly led by Jodie McNee in the title role, I found myself mostly at a distance (and not just because I was seated in row M). Partly its the Faust story itself: it's not meant to be taken literally, of course, but with its time-travelling shifts of pace and place, it's difficult to care what actually happens to her. But there's also something muddled and muted in the storytelling here. As much as I wanted to embrace it, its stridency kept pushing me away. The play opens at a time of plague when women are still being executed as witches. Emerging from this vindictive age is Johanna Faustus, grieving the loss of her mother to such a degree that she begs for the opportunity to sacrifice her soul to Lucifer for the remote opportunity of being reunited with her mother in Hell.Director Francesca Goodridge’s vision for this ensemble production is that any of the female ensemble could take the title role. ‘You’re watching Olivia play Faustus. But if you’d have come an hour before, you might have seen another of the ensemble playing Faustus.’ And the production feels like any of the ensemble could have stepped up to take on Faustus’ plight. There is a sense of mutual animosity against persecution throughout the production, at any time an actor might take up the reins and continue Faustus’ fight. London is already awash with major re-workings of classic texts, whether nudged into contemporary verse and attitude ( Cyrano de Bergerac at the Playhouse), modern dress and language ( Uncle Vanya at the Harold Pinter) or undergoing wholesale cultural re-orientation ( Three Sisters at the National, relocated to Nigeria). Now, most radically or playfully of all, depending on how receptive you are to it, the Faustian myth is re-dramatised here in a re-gendered version, which signals its intentions in its title of "Faustus That Damned Woman" and propels its title character on a journey through some 144 years of life (an extension that she's bought at the expense of her soul). Johanna Faustus (Jodie McNee) is the epitome of powerless: a low-born, 17 th-century woman whose apothecary father (Barnaby Power) crushes her ideas (he prefers leeches to potentially life-saving herbs), preaches female docility – the cautionary tale is Johanna’s mother, who was hanged as a witch – and looks for ways to marry her off. Oh, and the bubonic plague is sweeping through London. It’s easy to believe Johanna when she quips that she’s already in Hell. Thus, she strikes a bargain with the Devil (also Power): 144 years of life, during which she will never age and has access to the supernatural powers of Mephistopheles (Danny Lee Wynter, pictured below right with McNee), in exchange for her soul. Sweeney is a continuous presence on stage and gives a high intensity performance with only a brief moment off stage in this two-hour play. Their characterisation is perfect for the pacing of this piece of theatre which delves into trauma and abuse.

A permanent theme explored throughout is the seemingly insurmountable range of obstacles women have to overcome to achieve anything in the face of a male-oriented society which leads Johanna to express incredulity when, after her first time jump, she encounters England’s first ever female doctor, so much so Faustus becomes convinced she too must have made the same pact with Lucifer. The play follows the title character as she travels through history, however many elements of misogyny and inequality remain. The Faust myth has fascinated writers for more than 400 years, inspiring two classics of Western theatre by Christopher Marlowe and Goethe. But this story of a man selling his soul to the devil in return for knowledge and fame has always been just that: a story of a man. Jocelyn Jee Esien played Doctor Faustus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse a year ago but, despite a few changes, it remained Marlowe’s text. Chris Bush has now created a female-led spin on the myth in Faustus: That Damned Woman, using it to explore how women navigate power within a patriarchal system. Based on the play by infamous playwright Christopher Marlowe and adapted by one of the UK’s most in-demand play writers Chris Bush, Storyhouse Chester is the new home for this reimagining of a classic tale, Faustus: The Damned Woman.

The final master stroke which adds beauty, excitement and lyricism to the work is the essential role played by movement which sometimes breaks out into exhilarating dance routines devised by Paul Bayes-Kitcher, artistic director of Fallen Angels Dance Theatre with whom this is a co-production. However, I felt this was a successful decision by director Francesca, as it added an ethereal, otherworldly appearance to the character leaving me wonder - is there a devil in everyone? Having lost her mother to the witch trials of the 1600s, Johanna seeks to sell her soul to uncover her mothers fate and discover if, as claimed, her mothers name is written in Lucifer’s book. But in considering her trade; her soul for 144 years of unlimited power, the ability to move time forward and to never age; Johanna seeks to use intellect, technology and a fiery grudge to do for others what she could not do for her mother. However, the production is definitely saved by a vivid stage design and an energetic and talented cast who throw themselves into the story wholeheartedly and deliver an enjoyable and thought-provoking performance. Olivia Sweeney takes on the part of Johanna Faustus, and whereas in previous interpretations of the tale, the story itself judges the morality of Faustus’s actions, in this production it is the audience who are challenged to take on the role of jury. Do we believe that Sweeney’s Faustus is morally good? Overreaching her power? She is a complicated figure driven by grief, need, and, as the play moves on, almost drunk on opportunity and possibilities. Sweeny’s indefatigable take on the role gives all the more weight and urgency to the characters seemingly impossible aspirations.