Dr Faustus at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, with big sis, Paul, my wicked step-daughter and her tolerant partner.
The play is recommended.
We all enjoyed it. It had magic and special effects all the way through, some of which made me jump, and some of which were spooky. I've never seen it before and inevitably, it being Elizabethan, the language took some grappling with. The lead actor, Patrick O'Kane, didn't help, because he muttered a bit.
It is a play that, presumably, was made to make audiences think about living a good life, and going to endless joy in heaven. (Or alternatively, living a sinful, pleasurable ife, with all of the world's knowledge, power and treasures at your fingertips, and then going on to perpetual torture and nastiness in hell).
What with the Pope visiting Britain at the moment, and being a bit controversial, the play got a bonus laugh and mutter of appreciation from the audience, because there is a scene featuring the then Pope, showing his corruption and brutality. The was written after Queen Elizabeth I had been excommunicated by Rome, and the Pope had decreed that it would not be a sin to kill her. So I guess Christopher Marlowe knew which side his bread was buttered on.
No comments:
Post a Comment