Faustus in Africa! (EIF)
★★☆☆☆ Lacking clarity
Lyceum (EIF): Wed 20 – Sat 23 Aug 2025
Review by Hugh Simpson
Faustus in Africa! may have been a ground-breaking production thirty years ago, but it is not entirely clear why it has been revived now, at the International Festival for four performances at the Lyceum.
In this South African production from director, designer and animator William Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Company, Faustus signs a deal with the devil that gives him free rein over the resources of Africa.
A scene from Faustus in Africa! Pic: Jess Shurte.
Handspring are of course responsible for the puppets in many productions, not least the astonishing War Horse, and Baxter Theatre’s outstanding Michael K (seen at 2023’s Fringe). And the puppets are wonderful; rough-hewn yet oddly alive, manipulated expertly by the cast. The design – like a 1920s office, complete with switchboard – is striking, while the animations have force. James Phillips and Warrick Sony’s music also impresses.
The storytelling, however, has less of an impact. The production is advertised as a ‘re-working’ but still seems, for better or worse, stuck in 1995. The translation of the late Robert David MacDonald (from Goethe, whatever the Marlowe reference of the title may suggest) and originally done for the Citizens, is perhaps not seen to its best advantage here.
Some of its rhymes are as likely to conjure up those couplets seen at the top of Rupert strips or the Sunday Post Fun Section as high romanticism, which is alright when interspersed with more thoughtful moments, but here – with odd snippets of text given over-ponderous weight – it seems over-assertive and just plain odd.
The various parts of the production, moreover, rarely seem to knit together. The puppets and animation, effective in themselves, appear to be working against each other rather than together.
The storytelling, meanwhile, confuses. The various references to colonialism (Faustus is introduced specifically as a ‘slaver’), the destruction of nature, political corruption or the climate emergency, fail to make a cohesive whole.
A scene from Faustus in Africa! Pic: Jess Shurte.
Things have changed since 1995, particularly in South Africa (the year the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established, as is clear in the play) but this production hasn’t. Most unfortunately, Handspring’s puppets have been used in more compelling productions, and it is by their standard that this will now be judged.
And, sad to say, it fails to meet such a standard, with the attention even beginning to wander a little before the end of the 100-minute straight-through production.
This isn’t the fault of the actors, who are uniformly fine – Eben Genis, Atandwa Kani, Mongi Mthombeni, Asandya Rilitanya, Buhle Stefane, Jennifer Steyn and Wessel Pretorius. Pretorius is the only human character among the puppets, and his Mephisto is a strange combination of James Bond and Neighbours’ Paul Robinson that works pretty well.
The desire to make points about history and the present is almost too strong overall, and the result – while admittedly of intermittent power – fails to convince. There can be no doubt that Faustian deals all over the world are threatening our very existence, but this production doesn’t necessarily get that across.
Running time: One hour and 40 minutes (no interval).
Lyceum Theatre, 30 Grindlay St, EH3 9AX (EIF).
Wednesday 20 – Saturday 23 August 2025.
Daily: 7.30 pm.
Part of the Edinburgh International Festival.
Tickets and details: Book here.
A scene from Faustus in Africa! Pic: Jess Shurte.
ENDS
