Power, money and sex at your fingertips? You need only make a pact with the Devil first. Would you sacrifice eternity for four years of power? Well; I personally would have to think about it. Dancing with the Devil is just one of those things not to be trifled with and this new play will scare anyone who has ever played with a ouiji board.
       John Faust is an unremarkable, lonely and rather ineffectual scholar. His girlfriend Lucretia loves him but is unfaithful. Her brother Ephes has murderous tendencies towards anyone who dares to touch her.
       Faust hungers for fame. He thinks that getting what he wants and having his name on everyone's lips is worth forfeiting anything, including his soul. After some experimentation involving murder, the dissection of bodies, and renouncing the name of God, he manages to summon Mephisto, slave of the Dark Lord. Mephisto has come to broker Lucifer's deal, which is: four years of whatever Faust wishes, in exchange for his soul.
       Faust cannot resist the temptations accompanying the offer, and falls willingly into Lucifer's grasp. His life becomes a hedonistic roller coaster. The limitless money, sex and power goes to his head, and with Mephisto's connivance he becomes an agent of destruction – and not just of himself.
       Burning Cat productions has combined the old legend of Faust with the idea of a "Modern Morality" exercise. But the play tries too hard too be unconventional and only manages to confuse. The use of film images, and the disjointed transitions between some of the scenes, distances the audience and occasionally loses it.
       All of the cast nevertheless do well. Guy Bass wonderfully brings off the transformation from pathetic Faust to Faust the invincible. The play is frightening in its portrayal of amorality and the destruction that unlimited power can bring. It is made darker by the comedy of the Grave Robbers, Pomp and Soak. The choreography by Anna Stokes, prominent in her own part as Lucretia, is excellent; it keeps a fluid parallel with the action, providing a counterpoise to the occasional confusions of the script, and is entertaining, passionate, and beautiful to behold.
       The inclusion of a musical number, puppetry and a speech by Faust on a microphone seemed misplaced, contributing to the periodic confusions of the whole. Perhaps Burning cat thought that confusing the audience might reflect the hellish chaos which fuels Faust's doings, and awaits him when he is done; but if so, it is a manoeuvre which does not quite come off.
Elizabeth Shenton