‘Dr. Faustus’ a creative thriller

The Princeton Shakespeare Company takes on a difficult play with Christopher Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus” and, for the most part, delivers a profound and captivating show. As a director, Molly O’Neill ’14 adds dynamism and intensity to what is largely a religious and philosophical play.

In the play, Dr. Faustus (Peter Giovine ’14) debates whether he should sell his soul to Lucifer. While these long speeches could drag down the play, the way O’Neill has Giovine move across the stage, sometimes violently throwing himself from one side to the other, gives a striking physical dimension to Dr. Faustus’ internal conflict. Of course, Giovine deserves a lot of credit as well. Although he occasionally verges on the melodramatic, his performance is remarkable. Giovine adeptly switches between emotions, from anger to triumph to doubt to devastation to satisfaction, often within one scene, and sometimes within one speech.

Brandon Bark ’13’s performance as Mephistopheles is less exciting but also enjoyable. Throughout the play, he watches the events unfolding around him with detached cynicism, fitting of Mephistopheles. Also notable is Katie McGunagle ’14’s performance as Wagner. Her comic acting is spot-on and brings in the majority of the laughs in the play.

The Wilson Blackbox Theater is the ideal setting for “Dr. Faustus,” as it adds a sense of displacement to the play. O’Neill plays with the ambiguous setting by using minimal props and almost no items that would add a sense of place to the scenes. The only real set piece is Faustus’ desk. The rest is bare, creating a feeling that this is all taking place in Faustus’ mind and adding to the play’s intrigue. Furthermore, there are only 10 actors in the cast and about 30 different roles, so many actors are used again and again, building upon the unreal and dreamlike feeling of the play. I especially liked that Carolyn Vasko ’13 plays both Lucifer and Helen of Troy. This adds a fascinatingly dark element to one of my favorite scenes where Dr. Faustus requests Helen as his paramour and seeks a substitute for salvation in her kisses.

Of course, reusing the same actors also detracted from the play, as some of their performances were significantly more lackluster than others, especially in the comedic scenes. The less skilled actors became clearer as they repeatedly showed up in scenes with the more talented actors. The combination of stilted performances and a failure to create a feeling of rising suspense or even continuity with the beginning of the play (which is fantastic) leads to tediousness. Still, the great scenes in the Shakespeare Company’s “Dr. Faustus” are truly magnificent and make it a play worth seeing.

3.5 Paws

Pros: Great performances by the leads

Cons: Slow middle and some bad acting