F@UST 3.0, 1998

Faust, eternally dissatisfied, willing to make a pact with devil in order to achieve genius, immortality and power, is a recurring figure in Western thought since the mid 15th century, and the character who is most often used to describe modernity. Goethe, probably the author that best represents the European literature of ideas, was interested in the Faustian myth since his childhood, from a popular marionette show. Years later, specifically in 1808 and 1832, Goethe’s two-part Faust was published in Germany, although the author would not stop revising it and revisiting its theme until his death in 1832. A century later, another European genius, Fernando Pessoa, took Faust as the central axis of a work, in addition to revising the myth, relating it to the avant-garde movements which had become the focal point of the European artistic scene.

F@ust 3.0 begins where Goethe’s Faust I and II end (this was the only choice considering the complexity of the work and the fact that it is written in verse), and is a  free version in which the feeling remains but the landscape is modernized. Faust continues to be held captive by his dissatisfaction but he no longer makes a pact with   the devil. Now Mefisto is no more than his dark side, the self hidden by social conventions. On the other hand Margaret continues to be the eternal victim of Faust and the Fausts, a paradigm of violence committed against the weak. Although the first part of Goethe’s Faust has been adapted many times, no one had confronted the task of staging the second part, which has a less clear narrative but extremely rich content. La Fura undertook the task with full knowledge of how difficult  a challenge it was.

Stage Directors : Àlex Ollé, Carlos Padrissa (La Fura dels Baus)

Creation and video production : Emmanuel Carlier in association with Franc Aleu

(more credits) : http://www.alexolle.com/work.php?id=45

F@ust 3.0 from Emmanuel Carlier on Vimeo.