‘Faust’ brings on stage story of man’s deception by Satan

Aparna Banerji

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 29

In what could easily be called, by far, one of the most provocative renditions to hit the stage in Jalandhar in recent times, Bose Studio’s “Faust” adapted from the Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe’s adaptation of the play of the same name was staged in the city yesterday.

Retelling the classic German legend — of the depressed German philosopher Faust, who sold his soul to Satan’s representative Mephisto in exchange of a season (read: a life) of pleasure, only eventually to let Satan take his very soul — the tale retold on stage, employed all artistic licenses to convey violence and gore.

Directed by Shantanu Bose, the play was the penultimate offering of Yuvaa Theatre Group’s Rang Utsav, which has been showcasing works of playwrights and theatre groups across the nation, including those from Maharashtra, West Bengal and yesterday’s Bose Studio rendition being from Delhi.

As it is essentially a story of man’s deception by Satan, the intense play employed various hitherto unwitnessed means to represent the heightened emotions, conflicts, emotional vaccum and mental tussle that the philosopher Faust undergoes at the hands of Satan, especially when in quest for his lady love Margaret.

Employing Bollywood numbers to bring out the tension as a reluctant Faust agrees to embrace the exhortations of Satan to enjoy pleasure, the play relied generously on song and dance sequences. But partly due to its subject and partly due to the treatment so chosen by Bosem the play remained heavy employing violent visuals for sadistic effect.

The tension between Faust and Mephisto, his intense emotional battle with emptiness and playful strife with Mephisto was well brought out, succumbing to the Devil’s overtures even in the face of reluctance. It can be related to by all, who might have fallen prey to moral degeneration, whenever purity has failed to yield the fruits of a wholesome, happy life.

But that’s what the play underlined – if not in innocence and morality, redemption is neither in Satan. In fact the price one must pay for succumbing to the temptations of the Devil is even greater than the latter.

The hitherto uninitiated audience of the city was left questioning — how much of an artistic license is justified enough? While freedom of expression must be upheld and art celebrated – did the play take the celebration of gore too far (especially with respect to slides on play in the background)? However, in the end, the artiste must be relied upon to answer the question themselves.

How the play unfolds

A projector in the background plays gory GIFs and slides, almost verged on sadism and horror. During course of the play, six male actors representing the repression and conflicts faced by Faust stripped to the point were left wearing only their underpants. The plot only accentuates the provocation further with the actors kissing the boots of Satan (Mephisto).