FaustusHaving put his personal stamp on the contemporary theater, David Mamet now performs the supremely audacious feat of reinventing the theater of the past. He does so by telling his own ingenious and eerily moving version of the tragedy of Dr. Faustus. Mamet’s Faustus—like Marlowe’s and Goethe’s before him—is a philosopher whose life’s work has been the pursuit of “the secret engine of the world.” He is also the distracted father of a small, adoring son. Out of the clash between love and intellect and the fatal operation of Faustus’ pride, Mamet fashions a work that is at once caustic and heart-wrenching and whose resplendent language marries metaphysics to conman’s patter. A meditation on reason and folly, fathers and sons, and a breathtaking display of magic both literal and theatrical, Faustus is a triumph. |
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American Buffalo angel assert beg your pardon bell rings blessed Bravo CHILD Colin Stinton complete confess cries Cryptogram damned dark wood delight dirk doubt e’en e’er Ecco entertainment error exit Fabian fame father’s fault Faustus’s FAUSTUStakes FAUSTUSturns fear fool forfeit forgive formula fret FRIEND gates are closing gazette gift Glengarry Glen Ross God’s Goddard College greater power grief hand hear heart Heaven Hell hisFRIEND honor House of Games Howe’er illusion impertinence importune indict journal Justice is blind lad who tarries libertine license lives magical magnum opus MAGUS manuscript ne’er newspaper oath Oleanna omnipotent Pause petted philosopher plead poor praise pray pride purloined purse Read regret seek self-absorption Spanish Prisoner speak speech Speed-the-Plow swear tarries abed taught TheFRIENDexits THEMAGUS TheMAGUSappears there’s trick understand unfit unwell upstage Wag the Dog wager whate’er Winslow Boy