Off the Wall's 'Faustus' is a Devil Without Details

×

Expand

Off the Wall Theatre's The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus

David Roper’s set design for Off the Wall Theatre’s The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus rather impressively creates the illusion of depth on a heroically small stage. At its best, the production itself creates its own illusion of depth in moody, visceral drama. Jeremy Welter plays the good doctor, a learned man who is largely unimpressed with his own breadth of knowledge. Welter’s restlessness serves the role well as the character reaches for power and insight not found in playwright/director Dale Gutzman’s script.

James Strange is a powerful presence on stage in the role of Mephistopheles. Strange exudes power and authority mixed with a kind of decadent boredom that makes for a really nicely understated devil. The face makeup, which involves curling black lines, is a bit of a distraction in places, but Strange manages to overcome the awkward face of the character to deliver a really interesting vision of power and immortality.

Gutzman delivers visuals to the stage that are truly haunting in places. All too often, however, the visual aspects of the production seem to be going for something far more powerful than they can manage. It’s a remarkably daunting task to bring the supernatural darkness to such a small stage on such a small budget. There’s power in symbolism as seen in simple pentagrams and swastikas, but the production rarely gets beneath the surface of the symbolism to really explore the nature of corruption. At times garish color, light and shadow can draw a certain ineffable intensity, but without being grounded in a deeper cerebral exploration of Faustus’ themes, it can all feel a bit lost at times.

Through March 18 at the Off the Wall Theatre, 127 E. Wells St. For tickets, call 414-484-8874 or visit zivacat.com/offthewalltheatre.