Wrap up Plays


I guess we are done with 3 plays that we were supposed to cover in our course.Soon, we will be conducting a play ourselves :)
All these three plays are significant in their own ways, and we had gained a lot of knowledge about Elizabethan Literature...

Dr. Fautus' Fate



“Pride goes before destruction; a haughty spirit before a fall.” If not, America may soon face Faustus’ fate

Twenty-four years is not that long, as my British Literature students learned in their analysis of Faustus, the hubristic protagonist in Christopher Marlowe’s ever-popular play, “The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus.”

Frustrated by human limitations on learning, Faustus negotiated with Mephistopheles, Hell’s emissary, to gain for himself a twenty-four-year period of godhood by selling his soul to the emissary’s lord, Lucifer.

No longer constrained by such ordinary disciplines as philosophy, medicine, law, and theology, Faustus explored new frontiers of knowledge through the occult arts, among them alchemy, astrology, necromancy, numerology, and demonology.

Fatefully, the knowledge Faustus craved did not presuppose wisdom. While enjoying his superhuman powers, he failed to realize that all he really had was knowledge — knowledge that couldn’t be wisely applied to humanity’s betterment. When the twelfth hour arrived, Faustus, with nothing more than a useless, encyclopedic collection of facts, faced his tormentors who tore his body to pieces and introduced him to the worst of punishments: eternal absence of God’s love.

Pride, Faustus’ undoing, often finds fertile ground for bringing itself to fruition in human cowardice. As American Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen once said, “Pride is an admission of weakness; it secretly fears all competition and dreads all rivals.”

In the high drama of current American politics, there are Faustian characters who smugly strut and swagger their hour upon the stage, and risk departing in ignominy.

As well they should. After all, what has taken Americans two and a half centuries to build up — a democracy of, by, and for the people, which is the shining light of hope for oppressed peoples the world over — is in jeopardy of being subverted in the eye-blink of one presidential term.

Archbishop Sheen was right: Those possessed of overweening pride fear dissenters and demonize them in cowardly ad hominem fashion. That may be effective when attacking individuals, such as conservative news commentators, but it’s no defense against an entire population awakening to the fact that its security, wellbeing, and freedom are being endangered by a handful of unscrupulous, dog-and-pony-show politicians.

On the home front, many Americans are coming to grips with the unsettling reality that the socialistic Health Care Law will destroy the best health care system in the world by trying to perform an impossible feat of legalistic legerdemain: giving bureaucracy the responsibility of lowering costs in a free enterprise society. When has bureaucracy ever lowered the cost of anything?

On the foreign front, nations having economic and defense ties with America are dismayed that some of her leaders are far too friendly with foreign fanatics fantasizing about the Great Satan’s fall. For example, in meetings with Iran’s president — a bona fide, fiendish, fanatical fruitcake — some of America’s highest echelon leaders, including the Secretary of State, have basically condoned his country’s right to build nuclear weapons!

Such leaders should take note of the warning given in the sixteenth chapter of Proverbs: “Pride goes before destruction; a haughty spirit before a fall.” If not, America may soon face Faustus’ fate.

Dr. Faustus : Creation Threatre





Christopher Marlowe’s play Doctor Faustus has a famed connection with Oxford. In 1966, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor added their very considerable presence to an Oxford University Dramatic Society production at the Playhouse.

“A huge entourage came with them, I think there were about 15 people,” recalled fellow cast member and now children’s play producer David Wood. “Elizabeth Taylor only appeared briefly in the show, but she came up through a trapdoor. Her entourage would see her on to the trap, then rush up to the wings to meet her.”

This month two new Doctor Faustus productions are hitting Oxford — but they may turn out to be very different from each other, not least because there is more than one version of the text. A company called A Group of Oxford Players are presenting the play at Corpus Christi College, while Creation Theatre are staging Doctor Faustus in Blackwell’s Bookshop. In addition, there are a number of associated music and film events, creating an Oxford Faust Festival (full details: oxfordfaustfestival@gmail.com).

Creation’s Doctor Faustus aims to capitalise on Oxford’s position as one of the world’s great university cities. They have surrounded themselves with learning: the three miles of book-laden shelves contained in the subterranean Norrington Room at Blackwell’s.

So when I asked Creation actor Gus Gallagher, who is playing the title role, how he plans to present his character, the answer didn’t come as a complete surprise.

“Faustus is one of these types you get a lot of round here, I suspect. He’s something of a perpetual student.

“The opening text tells that he arrived at Wittenberg, his university town, at a very early age — it could have been as young as 13 or 14. We’ve got him down as something of a childhood genius so far as his intellect is concerned.

“Having arrived at university very early, he’s been there for some time. He’s now in his late twenties, he’s done his first degree, his PhD, and his research fellowship.

“He’s done everything. He’s excelled at divinity, at law, at medicine, at philosophy. He’s an all-round absolute brainiac.

“At the point where the play opens, he’s searching to quench his ongoing thirst for knowledge, answers, and unresolved ambiguities.

“The Norrington Room is a very apt venue for this story because, were Faust alive today, it would be just the place for him.”

Appropriately enough, Gus Gallagher has recently moved to Oxford with his fiancĂ©e, but he doesn’t share any of Faustus’s academic abilities.

“My brother’s a lawyer, but I don’t think that counts. I’ve spent all my time in the pursuit of acting, and it doesn’t really answer many questions of physics and law.

“I was a victim of pushy-mum syndrome, which I’m very thankful for, after all this time.

“I had my tenth birthday during my first acting job, Christmas Carol at the Birmingham Rep: I played Tiny Tim. To give that some context, I have my 31st birthday tomorrow, so Faustus is effectively my 21st birthday in the business.”

In the play, Faustus ultimately sells his soul to the devil in return for power and knowledge.

“But how does the devil play with a 21st-century audience?

“Do we believe in him any more, or do we think of him as an overpaid banker reaping in vast bonuses?

“It’s an interesting point,” Gus Gallagher replied. “At the time Doctor Faustus was written, there was a much more solid belief system shared by just about everybody.

“And that system was as much about what not to do, as what to do. So there was the shared idea of Satan, and Hell. But now we live in a more secular, pragmatic society, where we’re forgiven for not being terrified of the fellow with the red tail, and the poky ears.

“I don’t think bankers are the devil, but I think there is a very palpable sense of evil towards which Faustus is invariably drawn.”

Creation Theatre’s Doctor Faustus runs from tomorrow until March 26 at Blackwell’s Bookshop, Broad Street, Oxford. Tickets: www.creationtheatre.co.uk or 01865 766266.

A Group of Oxford Players’ Doctor Faustus is at Corpus Christi College from February 9-13. Tickets: www.wegottickets.

Source : http://wn.com/Dr_Faustus

Dr. Faustus' images







These are more glimpse of Dr. Faustus' play...

Just for laugh


This is 1 cartoon image of Dr. Faustus in action :)

up