“Too Faust, Too Furious”
Adapted and Directed by Zach Davidson
Choreographed by Sadie Schwolsky
Workshop: CalArts, Spring 2015
The German legend of “Faust” centers on a successful (yet dissatisfied) scholar who makes a pact with the devil: his eternal soul in exchange for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures.
From Christopher Marlowe to David Mamet, writers have been spinning their own “Faust” stories for centuries. The legend has become more than a cultural icon; it has become a trope, used to explain both supernatural skill (see: Robert Johnson) and suspicious collaboration (see: Rudolf Kastner and Adolf Eichmann).
In “Too Faust, Too Furious”, using our supernatural skill and suspicious collaboration, we have created what we call a SuperFaust—an adaptation that brings text from Goethe, Marlowe, Mamet, and Gertrude Stein into the room at the same time. It is a collage, a juxtaposition, an engineering marvel (both literally and figuratively), and a living conundrum, using a multitude of texts, languages, moustaches, dance battles, and original music. It is then set on top of an ambitious art installation, designed, fabricated, and ornamented by pyrographer/sorcerer Zachary Aronson.
“Too Faust, Too Furious” is about the fine line between bewilderment and enlightenment.
Originally workshopped as a part of the 2015 CalArts New Works Festival, “Too Faust” went on to inspire our first full production — 2017’s “Fortunate Son: A Faust Myth.”