Fringe Play Reviews

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Sound & Fury's "Doc Faustus"

By: by Sound & Fury

Sound & Fury, Los Angeles, CA

07/17/2011 3:31 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies) Our Rating: Your Average Rating:

Gas Station Theatre (Venue 18), to Sunday

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Sound & Fury, those secretly erudite goofball thespians from Los Angeles, are back again, this time this time tackling Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus.

The tale of the failed physician who sells his soul to the devil has been transplanted to Abilene, Texas. That allows for a Johnny Cash-style narrator, some David Bowie-at-the Alamo bits and a corn-pone Texas governor who sounds oddly like CBC Radio’s Stuart McLean. It’s classic, meandering, self-deprecating and very funny S&F.

It’s also insidiously smart, like vegetables hidden in the brownies. There are many lines from the real Faustus, lots of historical references and some moral lessons about wasting your Lucifer-given talents and meddling with history.

It all starts with a bang — the opening Faustus song is sharp and funny and by then you already have a crush on all the actors from the pre-show — but the production lags slightly two-thirds of the way through, and the actors sometimes get a little caught up in the meta-ness of it all.

Other than that, S&F in fine form.

— Mary Agnes Welch

From the official Fringe Festival program:

Fringe faves S&F return with a Soulless Western! A parody of the classic play where Faust sells his soul for power!

People's Choice Award - Adelaide Fringe (AU) '08,'09,'11

Best of Fest - Wpg Fringe '06,'07

5 STARS "60 minutes of jaw-aching hilarity!"/"Pick of the Summer 2010" - Winnipeg Free Press

Recommended For: General Audience

Length: 60 min.

Tickets: $10

Discount Tickets: $8 Students, Fringe performers

Warnings: Language, Probably Sacrilegious. And may contain colorful old-West utterances.

http://docfaustus.soundandfury.org/

History

Updated on Sunday, July 17, 2011 at 3:31 PM CDT:
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