Kevin Hosier - Director
Adrian Lillie - Designer
Georgina King - Assistant Designer
Lisa Westerhout - Music
Julian Blundell
Ian Cairns
Phillip Edgerley
Kirsty Gabriele
Sarah Goddard
Vincent John
Ross MacDonald
Geoffrey Towers
Charlotte Windmill
"Unlike some of the outdoor productions to be seen in and around Oxford in the summer months, the Oxford Shakespeare Company's production reaps many benefits from its open air setting…"
Oxford Times Oxford Weekly Information Oxford Mail Oxford Times The Stage Oxford Times Oxford Weekly Information
"Hosier has directed a captivating production of Marlowe's Dr Faustus, and the outdoor setting really comes into its own in the final few moments of the play, as darkness falls for us as well as for Faustus
"This is Hell, nor am I out of it, says Mephistophilis in Marlowe's Dr Faustus. Watching the Oxford Shakespeare Company's production of the Elizabethan masterpiece is like peering into the jaws of hell itself. The pleasant college grounds are over-run with screaming spirits, evil truncated fiends and misshapen fiends…This is a brilliant piece of fire and brimstone theatre"
"This is a production to savour and with its emphasis on action and visual effect should be attracting visitors and locals in their droves"
"full-blooded direction…sparkling and impressive"
"the comic scenes which the company exploit to the full by introducing elements of slapstick and farce contribute hugely to the evening's enjoyment"
"such attention to detail made this production shine"
Once the decision has been made to play the Chorus character in Dr Faustus as a diabolical ring master, there is really only one option for the staging of the piece; in the round. This makes good sense in a play where the magic circle charmed by Faustus is, literally, central to the action. Into this circle we introduce an unholy host of characters; the spirits of Galen, Aristotle and Jerome intoning Latin verses, the infernal temptress Mephistophilis, ghastly clown devils armed with garden tools and catholic clergy in fishnet suspenders. Our seven sins arrive straight from the Victorian madhouse, white clad misfits roped together. The relationship between our Faustus and Mephistophilis, whilst never far from sexual, reaches a climax ¯ for Faustus at least - when the white-suited devil’s right hand woman transforms herself into Helen - the face that launched a thousand ships. The Latin in the play was the inspiration for the most wonderfully ethereal music, created acapella by the cast with the accompaniment of gongs, cymbals and bass drums. The circus theme suggested that the characters, save Faustus, should be clown masked in white face make-up; again speaking of the madhouse. The al fresco setting allowed us to play with the audiences’ perception of sound and distance; the sinner tortured in the ever-burning chair that you can hear could be ten feet away or one hundred feet away in the darkest depths of the garden. Whilst the comedy of this diabolical pageant was always to the fore, there was no escaping the horror of Faustus’ final moments on earth as the bell tolls, the stage is bathed in blood red light and the devils arrive to carry him away to hell. The Ringmaster stands alone on stage to deliver his last speech, lit only by a single burning torch. As the he utters the final fateful words "…terminat Author opus." the torch is extinguished plunging the audience into utter darkness beneath the great expanse of the black night sky…
