FAUST
University of Calgary
Starring Guillermo Urra and Jamie Konchak
Directed by Barry Yzereef
Written by Goethe
Part 1: March 27-29. Part 2: April 2-4. Part 1&2: April 5.
Reeve Theatre (U of C)
Goethe’s Faust is the Mount Everest of German literature, and Barry Yzereef sounds as exhilarated as a climber who has just reached the summit.
"This is a lifetime dream for me," enthuses the artistic director of the University of Calgary’s department of drama. "I’ve always loved this play and I’ve never seen it done in English."
Nor have most people. Faust is much read but seldom staged – a vast verse drama with a huge cast, myriad scenes and an array of settings that defy the budgets and resources of most theatres. The U of C’s drama department, however, has taken up the gauntlet and, in conjunction with the Germanic, Slavic and East Asian studies department, is producing the work in all its multi-faceted glory. Part 1 runs March 27 to 29, Part 2 will be presented April 2 to 4, and the full, six-hour-plus show will then be given one marathon performance on Saturday, April 5, with a buffet dinner at the interval.
Director Yzereef, who excels with large student casts, is guiding 21 actors in over 200 roles. "The average is about 10 roles per actor," he says, adding that the show has been in rehearsal since September. "I don’t think these young actors have ever received more challenging work. The roles of Mephistopheles and Faust are longer than Hamlet."
Guillermo Urra plays Faust, the medieval doctor and scholar whose thirst for knowledge leads him to sell his soul to the Devil. Jamie Konchak is the wily Mephistopheles, who agrees to serve him on Earth if, in return, Faust will serve him in Hell for eternity.
Most English-speaking theatre-goers know the legend from Marlowe’s Elizabethan tragedy Dr. Faustus – staged at the university last season – but Goethe’s Romantic version is much richer, more complex and far from a simple didactic tale of hubris and damnation.
"The biggest difference is that Faust doesn’t end up in Hell," observes Yzereef. "He goes to Heaven in the end. Goethe’s Faust represents human struggle, of constantly striving and never giving up in the quest for knowledge and perfection. Faust is us, with all our strengths, all our weaknesses. We all sell out at some point – we bend our principles and recognize ourselves doing it. I think that’s why this story touches us."
Yzereef doesn’t buy the argument that Faust is more a literary masterpiece than a theatrical one. "It think it’s extremely dramatic," he asserts. "Part 1 is this great love story that ends in deep tragedy. Part 2 is an incredible inner journey with Faust searching for and trying to create the perfect world, and sometimes doing some pretty awful things to create it." In fact, he believes the intent of the work is far clearer on the stage than when you read it.
Yzereef, who reads German, waded through the numerous English translations and chose a contemporary verse adaptation by British playwright Howard Brenton, originally produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1995, which he felt came closest to the spirit of Goethe.
"Brenton goes right to the jugular vein of the story," he says.
Brenton’s is not, it should be noted, the complete Faust text. There are some elaborate poetic digressions in Goethe’s work that are rarely included, even in German productions. A recent exception was Peter Stein’s monumental 21-hour staging of the play for Expo 2000 in Hanover.
The U of C production is just as much a milestone for Canada. Yzereef notes that Faust hasn’t been performed professionally in this country since the 1960s, and even universities have shied away from it. "We looked into it and it’s been many, many years since anyone has produced it. And certainly, Part Two has never been done."
To celebrate the occasion, the two departments have couched the show in a festival-cum-conference focusing on the timeless Faustian theme. Faustival will feature academic papers, visual art exhibitions and a range of theatrical and musical performances. It takes place April 1 to 5 and full details are available at the festival Web site (www.ucalgary.ca/~esleben/faust/faustival). |
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