Christopher Marlowe’s gothic Doctor Faustus comes to Southwark Playhouse this autumn

Christopher Marlowe’s gothic Doctor Faustus will come to Southwark Playhouse this autumn.

The London venue will play host to the production from 1 September to 1 October 2022. There will also be a streamed performance on 6 October.

Lazarus Theatre Company will transform Christopher Marlowe’s Elizabethan tragedy into a “multi-sensory theatrical experience”.

Exploring the modern tragedies of technology, knowledge and wanting more than you can have, audiences will be captivated within Marlowe’s gothic world of haunting twists with state-of-the art video design, music and movement.

The cast is led by Jamie O’Neill (Salomé, Southwark Playhouse; Macbeth, Greenwich Theatre) as John Faustus, and playing opposite him is David Angland (My Life as A Cowboy, Park Theatre; Lord of the Flies, Greenwich Theatre) as the devil Mephistopheles.

The ensemble is completed by Hamish Somers (Macbeth, Greenwich Theatre; Beating the  Bounds, Collage Arts), Rachel Kelly (Old Vic 200, Old Vic; Daily Fail: The Musical, Rose Theatre  Kingston), Candis Butler Jones (The Pocket, Theatre Peckham), Charis Murray (Mamma Mia:  Here We Go Again!, Universal Pictures; Cabaret, The English Theatre Frankfurt & Deutsches  Theatre), Henry Mettle (Holes, UK Tour), Stefan Capper (Aladdin, Walt Disney Pictures), Jordan  Peedell (Macbeth, Reading Minster) and Henrietta Rhodes, making her professional debut.

John Faustus, frustrated and in search of complete fulfilment, enters a dangerous game of necromancy and dark arts, selling his soul to the devil in return for 24 years of unlimited knowledge, power and fame. Yet as the clock strikes 12 on his final day, Mephistopheles comes knocking and repayment is due…

Contemporary, sharp and masculine, this mesmerising production is complemented by live camera and video to bewitch the audience as they join Faustus in his descent into hell. Playing with screens, movement and contemporary themes whilst integrating Marlowe’s original text, this Doctor Faustus speaks to a modern audience.

Ricky Dukes, artistic director, commented: “To be back at Southwark Playhouse with Marlowe’s firecracker Doctor Faustus is fantastic. In our contemporary staging of the play Faustus is a man who lives online, surrounded by tech, something we can all relate to after the past two years – he has everything literally at his fingertips, it’s not enough. With video designer Dan Light we are working with tech as we never have before, using interactive technology within the performance to fully immerse the audience into the fantastical, frightening and at times downright bizarre journey Faustus encounters.”

For more information and tickets for the in-person shows, visit southwarkplayhouse.co.uk. For the streamed performance, visit www.lazarustheatrecompany.co.uk/boxoffice