If Mephistophele came in person to promise youth and a thousand pleasures in exchange for your soul, what would you do?
Faust, in search of the absolute, accepts.
The tale of Faust speaks to me within the political climate we are experiencing.
Our world is filled with overwhelmed souls, many of whom are ready to explore extreme paths in order to find solution to their plight.
Faust, just such a soul, surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power and success for a finite term.
So universal is this quest for power that the term “Faustian” has entered our lexicon.
What would it be like to journey with the devil? How could a theater simultaneously production enhance Faust fantasies and help us investing our own?
Thesis NYU TISCH MFA / BAM OPERA HOUSE
Design By Margaux Maeght
Prologue
Repentance and respect.
A church in Vienna. A mystic chorus praises God the Creator, gradually filling the space.
Mefistofele scornfully enters declaring that he can win the soul of Faust. His challenge is accepted by the Forces of Good.
Act I, Scene 1
Celebration and disrespect.
Easter Sunday, Mefistofele is watching the celebrations with delectation. The behavior of the crowed is an insult the exultation in the prologue.
Faust and Wagner attend the celebration and are offended by the vulgarity of the parade.
Act I, Scene 2
Temptation.
The night comes, A goat appears.
Faust is alone and find a chess board left by the crowd.
Mefistofele joins Faust, they both enters into an agreement in which they will start to play together. The pact is signed.
Act II, Scene 1
Corruption
Next to Faust, Margareta grows from the earth in the form of a flower.
The female chorus from the parade returns. The whole space starts to be filled by a garden of legs.
In the euphoria and high speed of the scene Mefistofele amuses himself with Martha and discovers for the first time what love is.
Faust and Margherita are left alone with their fantasies and are now on the escalation to hell.
Act II, Scene 2
Destruction
The male chorus from the parade returns to celebrate the Devil himself.
Mefistofele mounts his war throne and enters into a delirium of destruction.
As the cruel event reaches its climax, a mysterious apparition discreetly enters. Faust only seems to notice it and sees it as a prediction of Margherita death.
Act III
Death
Margherita lies in her final resting place, her mind is in a state of confusion and despair.
Refusing to succumb to further evil, Margherita begs for divine forgiveness.
Acte IV
Burial
Faust mourns the death of Margherita as sinks into the ground.
Helena appears with her followers and assists the burial.
Faust and Helena recognize themselves in sharing their trauma.
In a passionate outpouring they declare their fraternal love and devotion to each other.
Epilogue
Repentance and respect
Alone after the chaos, Faust reflects that he was not able to find the perfect experience he craved in either in the world of reality or of illusion was
Mefistofele has been thwarted; he leaves as Faust dies and the Celestial choir once more sings of ultimate redemption.