Romanians @ Edinburgh Festival - Faust directed by Silviu Purcarete
Ofelia Popii as Mephistopheles:
The Guardian of London:
"Quite the most blisteringly stunning theatrical experience of this (or, appropriately enough, any other) life, Faust (Ingliston Lowland Hall) seared and stuck like hot tar on bare skin. This Romanian production, in a hangar of a shed near the airport, left most of us mesmerised and enthralled, and left me saddened only in one perverse way: I may never see a grander, more theatrical event in my life".
www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2009/aug/23/heroine-breakfast-...
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The Independent of London (Kate Bassett):
"Lowland Hall is an awesomely vast, dark vault where Purcarete's epic production – to give it its due – does offer some visually bewitching moments.
A ghoulish swarm of over 100 actors (from Romania's Radu Stanca National Theatre of Sibiu and its affiliated drama school) erupt from under the floorboards of Faust's study.
Storm clouds scud past frosted windows. Ofelia Popii's gurgling, androgynous Mephistopheles squats on a desk, with a bulging codpiece and her bare torso smeared crimson. Her fellow fiends, in long white coats and surgical masks, seem legion as they jiggle and writhe. However, that is one of Purcarete's crowd-choreography trademarks rehashed". (...)
"Purcarete conceives all Faust's adventures as a theatrical illusion starring the devil in various guises, but the effect is baffling, especially coupled with English surtitles that are impossible to follow.
When the show turns into a huge promenade for Walpurgis Night, it's meant to be spectacular, with a blaring rock band and fireworks, witches suspended from forklift trucks, and (erm, why?)18th-century aristos astride a rhino. " (...)
www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/re...
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Financial Times (Iain Shuttleworth):
"One of the topics of discussion in Edinburgh this year is how far reviewers should include or avoid “spoiler” information, but however much detail I were to give about this segment, you would still be unprepared for the reality. I have not seen such a complex, phenomenal staging since Janusz Wisniewski brought his The End Of Europe to the Fringe here in 1985, half my lifetime ago, and Purcarete’s Faust has a wealth of intellectual content to match its visceral impact. (After all that, it even manages to bring off Faust’s ultimate redemption.) This production by the Radu Stanca National Theatre of Sibiu has already sold out, but I fervently advise anyone within striking distance of Edinburgh to call in every favour they can think of in order to secure a ticket."
www.ft.com/cms/s/2/443f741e-8da4-11de-93df-00144feabdc0.html
Twitter:
"Faust last night at the EIF was like no other theatre we've ever seen - surreal - flamboyant - disturbing - wonderfully acted -"
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BBC - Scotland (Angela Brown):
... "as Faust talked to a skull, drawing inspiration from Shakespeare, and I longed to be taken into hell.
Suddenly pig-headed men were ushering the 500-strong crowd out of our seats and beckoning us through to the other side of the Lowland Hall.
The excitement brought on by curiosity was palpable and we were about to be met with a visual and audible assault, which was the highlight of the production by Theatre Radu Stanca of Sibu.
I was really surprised because there were things put into my mind that I hadn't thought of but I really enjoyed it
Elaine Osborne
Audience member from Surrey
Mephistopheles was raging in full flame-coloured wig and high-heeled boots as she strutted bare-chested and covered in red body paint amid the melee of performers.
There were dozens of TV screens showing moving Faust heads and large pictures on the walls, all to the thumping contemporary beat of a live band, which was perched on top of a scaffolding tower.
Forklift trucks, driven by semi-clad men, carried dangling women, and others were whirled round and round on a huge contraption.
A huge watermelon was smashed on to the middle of a moving set and a fire-breather added to the frenzy while women frolicked with life-size model pigs in a scene of bestiality.
I was left wanting more of hell as we were led back to our seats after about 15 minutes. "
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8209363.stm
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The Times (Benedict Nightingale ):
"If a modern Bosch were painting Hell, it would very likely turn out the way that the Romanian director Silviu Purcarete imagines it, or Faust’s vision of it, in the adaptation of Goethe he’s brought to an exhibition hall near Edinburgh airport." (...)
"Add pounding and often pretty demonic music, and the result is the most overwhelming sense of evil I’ve experienced in a theatre."
entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainmen...