THE HANGOVER REPORT – Mabou Mines’ FAUST 2.0 bites off more than it can chew

Angelina Impellizzeri, Benton Greene, and Oliver Medlin in Mabou Mines' “Faust 2.0” by Matthew Maguire. Photo by Richard Termine.

Angelina Impellizzeri, Benton Greene, and Oliver Medlin in Mabou Mines’ “Faust 2.0” by Matthew Maguire. Photo by Richard Termine.

This week, Mabou Mines’ Fasut 2.0, Matthew Maguire’s  ambitious take on Part II of Goethe’s masterpiece, opened Off-Broadway at the theater company’s renovated home in the East Village. For those of you who aren’t familiar with their work, Mabou Mines has long been (having been established in 1970) one of the pillars of New York’s experimental theater scene, and their latest offering is nothing if not experimental in the purest sense of the word. So what did I think of it?

Well, first off, there’s a lot to commend about Faust 2.0. The sheer scope of the post-everything production – mining world philosophy, religion, mythology, and various theatrical traditions via 19th century German literature to dissect our world’s current woes – is actually kind of astonishing. The piece packs in so many references and influences from all sorts of spheres that it’s all rather dizzying. This “throw spaghetti on the wall” approach is what makes the show rather exciting, unpredictable, and ultimately frustrating. At the end of the day, I can’t help feeling that Mabou Mines has bitten off more than it can chew.

The elaborate multimedia production has been directed with scalpel-like precision and heightened emotionalism by Sharon Ann Fogarty. In her hands, time and space effectively collapse into a purgatorial netherworld of perpetual human struggle. Even at an intermission-less 100-minutes, the play feels overstuffed and overlong, despite the efforts of a game cast. In the iconic pairing of Faust and Mephistopheles, Benton Green and Paul Kandel do an admirable job of bringing considerable sustained intensity and intelligence to their respective performances.

SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED

 

FAUST 2.0
Off-Broadway, Play
Mabou Mines Theater
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through April 14

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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