Valdes, played by Alex Christian, was similarly lacking in authority, and his lines were sometimes hard to hear. Charles Pidgeon was commanding as Lucifer, appearing to speak from the gallery above the audience, but his second role as Cornelius was played with less authority. Mephistopheles, played by Thea Keller, looked menacing and stalked about the stage with purpose, but his delivery was sometimes feeble, and so often fell short of the grandeur required of his character’s speeches. However, few other aspects of the production proved exciting. Murphy played Faustus with confidence, ensuring that the character’s slow decline from heightened arrogance to regret and self-hatred was convincing. He is as much guided by these angels as his is by his hubris. Their constant presence worked well, reminding the audience of Faustus’ ultimate lack of autonomy and control. The pair – symbolic of the inner forces of Faustus’ mind – remained onstage for almost the entire duration, occasionally intervening to guide Faustus towards sin or redemption. On the other side of the stage, the good and evil angels, played by Anusia Battersby and Laura O’Driscoll respectively, perched on a raised platform. Doctor Faustus – played here, in an instance of gender-blind casting, by Georgie Murphy – sat at a dimly lit desk, books piled on one side, a MacBook at her fingertips. The corridor leading into the theatre was lined with actors in white masks, swaying and grasping menacingly at the audience members who walked through to take their seats. Unfortunately, this rich work lost much of its shine in the Taliesin Theatre’s underwhelming production at the Keble O’Reilly Theatre. Faustus will have Mephistopheles at his service for twenty-four years, after which his soul will be condemned to hell.

The plot centres on the titular character’s pact with Lucifer and his servant Mephistopheles. Although Marlowe was not nearly as prolific as his more celebrated contemporary, Dr Faustus stands alongside the Bard’s best as one of the Elizabethan period’s finest plays.

Like some of Shakespeare’s most bewitching plays – A Winter’s Tale and The Tempest come to mind – there is a strangeness present here: dark, almost pre-gothic themes are thrown into relief by comedy and sexual innuendo. Written by Christopher Marlowe in 1592, it signals a move away from medieval drama’s heavy use of allegory, towards the onstage portrayal of complex human psychology. Doctor Faustus is one of my favourite plays.

Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe