The legend of Faust – an ambitious man dissatisfied with life who strikes a deal with the Devil, who serves him until it is time for the Devil to claim Faust’s soul – goes back 500 years. Perhaps the most famous versions in the intervening half a century are the plays by Marlowe and Goethe, but it has been retold dozens of times, and its echoes can be seen in other stories of diabolical dealings such as Don Juan or the myth of how Blues musician Robert Johnson came by his talent.
In 1995, artist William Kentridge collaborated with the Handspring Puppet Company to tell the story again as Faustus in Africa!, this time in the wake of the fall of apartheid and the transition of power between the apartheid-era government and the African National Congress. The legend of Faust was a perfect prism through which to examine the aftermath of this, in Kentridge’s words, ‘pact with the devil’.
Now, 30 years later, Kentridge and Handspring have reanimated the play. Nothing about the production itself (with the exception of the puppeteers and actors) has changed, but the world has changed around it. Where in 1995 the parallels with a post-apartheid South Africa would have loomed large, now its themes of the looting of cultural artefacts and environmental exploitation are what strike a chord.
The production takes place in and around what looks like a mid-twentieth-century counting house or records office, with switchboards and typewriters cast as instruments of colonial oppression.
It is prowled by Mephistopheles, played by Wessel Pretorius with some of the gurning energy of Jack Nicholson’s devil in The Witches of Eastwick. In one of numerous humorous touches he confides he hides his cloven hooves in corrective shoes; the face of evil may change but its essential nature does not.
The Devil is the only character wholly played by an actor, the rest are brought to life through Handspring’s distinctive puppets. These are hugely expressive wooden figures, expertly operated by pairs of puppeteers. The voice acting sparkles, bringing the inanimate wood to life, with Atandwa Kani particularly impressive as Faustus.
Faustus is portrayed as a gaunt, hollow puppet, the character recast as a rapacious colonial figure with all sorts of dubious ambitions. His deal with Mephistopheles allows him to take advantage of Africa – its people, its lands and its artefacts – eventually driving it to civil war.
Behind the action on stage, ink-drawn animations provide a window into the thoughts and fears of the various characters, effectively compensating for the still faces of the puppets. In stark style they depict Faustus’ hunting, his exploitation of minerals, his sale of African art and his despoilation of African women.
The bleak, ink-drawn style is perfectly suited to portraying this environmental and social devastation. Typewriters – more ink, representative both of colonial administration and the deadly deal Faust has signed with the Devil – morph into hungry beasts, chewing up men and animals and reducing them to sellable commodities.
Faustus in Africa may be 30 years old, and the world may have changed immeasurably in that time, but it is a mark of its quality that it retains its relevance. Far from shrinking the scope of the Faust story, the expert use of puppetry broadens its scale to interrogate centuries of colonial wrongs across an entire continent.
Performed at The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh as part of the Edinburgh International Festival
Saturday 23 August, 19:30
Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes, no interval
Director, Designer and Animator: William Kentridge
Puppetry Directors, Handspring Puppet Company: Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones
Puppet Constructor and Set Designer: Adrian Kohler
Puppet Constructor: Tau Qwelane
Translator: Robert David MacDonald
Music: James Phillips and Warrick Sony
Sound Designer: Simon Kohler
Lighting Designer and Production Manager: Wesley France
Performed by Handspring Puppet Company
Cast: Eben Genis, Atandwa Kani, Mongi Mthombeni, Wessel Pretorius, Asanda Rilityana, Buhle Stefane, Jennifer Steyn