Three generations of Faust
The new production of Goethe’s Faust is a multigenerational project, with performers’ ages ranging from 16 to 75.
«Theatre is a place for becoming and for promoting development», says Andrea Pfaehler, the director of Faust 1 and 2 at the Goetheanum. This statement reveals what is important to her in this new production. She creates development even by the way she casts the various parts across the whole range of a human life. Gretchen and Valentin are cast close to the characters’ age (around 17); Faust is presented at two different stages of life in Goethe’s tragedy.
This suggests a differentiation of characteristic traits. In the new production, different actors, male and female, will represent different qualities of Mephisto, such as a more traditional side, then his animal instincts, and different from these, a feminine seductiveness. In addition, Faust as a human and Mephistopheles as a metaphysical being are portrayed through eurythmy in the Prologue in Heaven and in other scenes through acting.
From the beginning, Andrea Pfaehler was inspired by the idea of Faust as a ‹joining-in project›. Early on she asked Agnes Zehnter to build up a speech choir of both professional and amateur speakers from around the Goetheanum. These speakers, along with Andrea Pfaehler, Eduardo Torres, who is in charge of eurythmy, and everyone else involved will only have around six months for rehearsing.
Premiere Goethe’s Faust 1 & 2in nine hours, 20–21 June 2020,Goetheanum Stage
Other performances (as part of Faust Weekends with lectures and workshops): 3–5 July, 10–12 July, 17–19 July and 24–26 July 2020
Special student offer 17–19 June 2020
Web faust.jetzt