Script and Direction by Silviu Purcărete Translated by: Şt. A. Doinaş Set & Light Design: Helmut Stürmer Costumes: Lia Manţoc Original Music: Vasile Şirli Musical Arrangement: Doru Apreotesei Video: Andu Dumitrescu Set Assistant: Daniel Răduţă
Cast:
Faust:Ilie Gheorghe Mephistopheles:Ofelia Popii Margareta:Tania Anastasof, Medeea Dobrota. Doris Faff, Astrid Hermann, Irina Mihai, Aneea Oprin, Ana Maria Telebus
With: Johanna Adam, Maria Anuşcă, Emoke Boldizsar, Lerida Buchholtzer, Irina Deak, Diana Fufezan, Laura Ilea, Dana Maria Lăzărescu, Rodica Mărgărit, Gabriela Neagu, Renate Muller Nica, Veronica Popescu, Eleonora Poşircă, Mariana Presecan, Cristina Ragos, Cristina Stoleriu, Dana Taloş, Codruţa Vasiu, Ema Veţean, Mihai Coman, Florin Coşuleţ, Dan Glasu, Tomohiko Kogi, Adrian Matioc, Adrian Neacşu, Cătălin Neghină, Eduard Pătraşcu, Cătălin Pătru, Doru Presecan, Viorel Raţă, Vlad Robaş, Bogdan Sărătean, Ciprian Scurtea, Cristian Stanca, Pali Vecsei, Liviu Vlad, Steve Walter, Alexandru Deac
The students of "Lucian Blaga" Univeristy of Sibiu, Acting Class: Dana Anghel, Simina Contras, Raluca Covrig, Teodora Domnariu, Lorelei Gazawi, Claudia Gherghel, Bianca Goada, Iulia Mihaela Grigore, Emilia Iancu, Alina Irom, Laura Luca, Ilinca Mateescu, Iulia Merca, Diana Sofia Murarus, Florentina Neagu, Alexandra Petrasciuc, Romina Stroia, Andreea Soaica, Doriana Taut, Gabriela Tica, Arina Trif, Codruta Varadi, Mihai Alexandru, Florin Besoiu, Liviu Bledea, Gabriel Budur, Alex Deac, Catalin Grigoras, Alexandru Verzescu, Laurentiu VladImperium Band: Dorin Pitariu (guitar), Calin Filip (bass), Lucian Fabro (percution), Ciprian Oancea (keyboards)
Cristian Stanca (the wolf)
and Felix (the dog)
After having staged countless performances at some of the most prestigious theatres in Europe, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Silviu Purcărete has created in Sibiu, „Faust" - an exceptional performance due directional vision and the complexity of the roles presented in a baroque setting mastered to the smallest, most loud-speaking details: a set and light design of impressive evocative force, daringly suggestive costumes, elegant or burlesque, thrilling or overwhelming music with sound effects suitable to that extravagant tone, video projections ingeniously and convincingly articulated in the architecture of the whole scenic endeavour. The project is put together by "Radu Stanca" National Theatre and financed by the Minister of Culture and Cults, Sibiu Local Council for the programme Sibiu - European Capital of Culture 2007 With the support of Culture 2000 Programme.
foto: Scott Eastman, Mihaela Marin, Ovidiu Matiu
I'd sell my soul to see this Faust again. Quite the most blisteringly stunning theatrical experience of this (or, appropriately enough, any other) life, Faust (Ingliston Lowland Hall) seared and stuck like hot tar on bare skin. This Romanian production, in a hangar of a shed near the airport, left most of us mesmerised and enthralled, and left me saddened only in one perverse way: I may never see a grander, more theatrical event in my life.
Striking and storming, this Faust is a spectacle. From start to finish director Purcarete's play, adapted from Goethe's drama, is disturbing. Helmut Stürmer's set design plays an integral part in creating this atmosphere as the play opens in Faust's cold and pale classroom. The production becomes a mind-bending experience in which disturbing characters, costume design and eerie music continually unsettle the audience. (…)
Among the cast of 120 actors, Ofelia Popii stands out. Popii's powerful and awesome portrayal of Mephistopheles is world class. Her overwhelming voice and movement means her presence is always felt on stage, even when she lurks in the shadows.
So ravishing that you're almost prepared to sell your soul to the devil to keep the succession of lush images coming, Silviu Purcarete's version of Goethe's Faust is such a seductive visual fantasia that you might not notice it has sold its own soul to spectacle. But what a mighty spectacle it is, with a series of eye-popping illusions and conjuring tricks that make you feel as if you've fallen into a waking dream – or a nightmare.
I have not seen such a complex, phenomenal staging since Janusz Wisniewski brought his The End Of Europe to the Fringe here in 1985, half my lifetime ago, and Purcarete’s Faust has a wealth of intellectual content to match its visceral impact. (After all that, it even manages to bring off Faust’s ultimate redemption.) This production by the Radu Stanca National Theatre of Sibiu has already sold out, but I fervently advise anyone within striking distance of Edinburgh to call in every favour they can think of in order to secure a ticket.
Ofelia Popii delivers a tour-de-force as a gender bending Mephistopheles who seems like a man at first, then strips off her costume to reveal both female breasts and a bulging codpiece. Her croaky voice, disconcerting shape-shifting and sheer charisma all combine to create a genuinely disconcerting figure who might really have arrived from some infernal world.
If you are staging a festival about the Enlightenment, then the tragedy of Faust – the restless and arrogant scholar who sells his soul to the devil – must form part of the picture. And now, it comes to Edinburgh in a version by Romanian director Silviu Purcarete, and his Theatre Radu Stanca of Sibiu, that must be one of the most breathtaking shows ever staged by the official Edinburgh Festival. But it also offers a serious 21st century reinterpretation of the story, in which the devil Mephistopheles is finally defeated by forces of innocence.
It's hard not to be blown away by the Edinburgh International Festival's staging of Faust. A production so huge, it has to be staged at the Lowland Hall in Ingliston, it leaves you after two and half hours of unrelenting spectacle, feeling slightly exhausted and a little overwhelmed. From the chalk-faced students behind Victorian desks in a giant classroom full of newspaper, to the pig headed creatures in white coats and pulsating bodies moving in time to the sniggers of Mephistopheles, it's one visual feast after another.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Box Office
Opening hours:
Monday - Friday: 11.00 - 18.00
Saturday: 11.00- 17.00
Sunday: 10.00- 15.00
Address: Str. Nicolae Balcescu, nr. 17Phone: +40 369 101 578
The day of the performance, at the venue, 30 minutes before the show.
Great success for "Faust", directed by Silviu Purcărete, at the Edinburgh International Festival!
The Observer: "I'd sell my soul to see this Faust again."
Repertoire 1948 - 2008