“The Spectacular Mundane in Faust/us”
Reviewer: Teo Xiao Ting
Performance: 21 March 2019
Upon signing her soul away to Mephistopheles (Timothy Wan), Faustus (Mia Chee) walks towards the edge of stage and gasps. An abundance of colours, warm light, had burst forth. “Where are we?” she asks. “Just the garden outside of your home,” he answers.
In Faust/us, Nine Years Theatre presents an adaptation of Goethe’s Faust, and questions what lies beyond this human life of ours, and how far one would go to fulfil one’s desires. The set design is simple, elevated. I crane my neck, fixated as the characters navigate their lives. With each raise of God’s (Hang Qian Chou) hand, the lights dim or brighten, and the act of gazing upwards to the platform reinforces a sense of yearning, akin to how Faustus cries out to the spirits in despair. Faust/us takes many turns – my mind continues to refract into more questions.
Cherilyn Woo, the director, reimagines Faust as a woman who grapples through despair, despite being one of the most brilliant academics of her time. Wagner (Hang Qian Chou), rather than being an assistant that eventually creates a homunculus (a humanoid existence created from inorganic materials), invents a handheld device that allows for communication across distance. Antithetical to Goethe’s Wagner, who remains insistent in his pursuit of logical knowledge, Woo’s Wagner speaks excitedly, tenderly, about gardening in a voicemail sent to Faustus. The gender reversal attempts to collapse binaries rather than superficially feminising the masculine or vice versa, and I appreciate the profoundly sensitive treatment of Goethe’s characters. That said, it is still operating within the constraints of the gender binary, as our reflexive emotional responses are informed by implicit biases.
Twice, Faustus turns away from those she loves. First, when she leaves Wagner to care for her dusty study, then, she abandons her beloved Grett (Neo Hai Bin) when he refuses to break out of prison with her. After the performance, a friend accused her of being selfish in her pursuit of desire. But is she? The truth is that if Faustus were a man, we might not deem him selfish. There is an unsaid expectation for her to unreservedly take on the role of caregiving.
In the end, Faustus travels the world and falls in love. The agreement with Mephistopheles dictates that her soul will be surrendered to him if she still feels despair after everything has passed. She resists, declares her soul to be of her own. A twist: in Woo’s Faust/us, her soul belongs to neither heaven nor hell. This declaration of autonomy is human. Faust/us isn’t just an indication of resistance to existing power structures, but a dignifying call to bear the responsibilities of one’s choices. After experiencing all that she has, Faustus returns to her initial routine, the same yet anew. There is no rapture, no spectacular closure. Faust/us ends where it began, with Faustus taking a stroll along the market, buoyed by a tenderness she encountered in the men around her: Grett’s spark bright love for God and words, and Mark’s (Neo Hai Bin) affection for his fruits and a simple life.
Mephistopheles still lurks in the corner of her home, but is now a “stray dog that barks incessantly”. Faustus still feels despair, and perhaps still drowns from time to time in the sea of utter dark, but she carries on.
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ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
FAUST/US by Nine Years Theatre
21 – 24 March 2019
Drama Centre Black Box
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Xiao Ting recently graduated from Yale-NUS College with a major in Arts & Humanities and a minor in Psychology. Her writing practice started with poetry, and has since moved towards a sort of explicit response. She’s still feeling out the contours of a “reviewer”, and thinks that each review is actually an act of love that documents and critically engages with performance.
