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Doctor Faustus
Blackbox Theatre, Galway
We might wonder what Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus has to say to a contemporary Irish audience. The immediate context of the play, which was written in the late 16th century, was the conflict in England between Catholicism and Protestantism; its presentation of a man who sells his soul was written at a time when heaven and hell were regarded as literal truths. The story has since been updated by countless writers, from Thomas Mann to Tom Murphy, so Marlowe's version now tends to be staged for its theatrical qualities rather than religious themes.
This production, the first by the new Galway company Theatrecorp, has a contemporary sensibility that reanimates Marlowe's treatment of desire, temptation and transgression. Directed by Max Hafler, it shows that one way to perform Doctor Faustus before a secularised audience is to make Mephistopheles the play's hero. Faustus (John Delaney) is presented as wayward and narcissistic, his damnation a result of self-deception rather than of a thirst for knowledge. Daniel Guinnane's Mephistopheles is a much more sympathetic character, constantly haunted by his banishment from heaven. This pair is joined by a supporting cast of three (Jonathan Gunning, Sean O'Meallaigh and Garrett Phillips), who move with wit and invention through Marlowe's assortment of scholars, demons, and royalty.
Performed before a blood-red backdrop on a mostly bare stage, the action neatly proceeds through Marlowe's series of theatrical set pieces, with Gunning doing particularly good work in his presentation of the Seven Deadly Sins. The choice of an all-male cast presents a slight problem for the play's final moments, however. The appearance of Helen of Troy should bring the action to a peak, but here she's left offstage, reducing the momentum somewhat. But this casting has other benefits, shifting the focus towards Marlowe's treatment of sexuality. The resulting physicality creates an edgy mood, which keeps the action moving. The combination of this insightful interpretation of the text with inventive acting makes this Doctor Faustus visually engaging and thought-provoking.
Ends tomorrow Patrick Lonergan
The Rasmus
Ambassador, Dublin
Welcome to a parallel universe. The Ambassador is packed with screeching fans, and the support act, Hiding Place (a Glasgow cliché with a record contract), beseech "every motherf***er to go f***ing wild". The first few rows of obliging motherf***ers seem to have an average age of about 10 - an average lifted by the presence of their parents.
Finally, Backstreet Boys take to the stage. Man, have they let themselves go. Hang on: it's not Backstreet Boys but The Rasmus, Finland's pop-metal, froth-goth combo, all politely thrashing guitars and kind-of-angsty lyrics. Their sound is said to be informed by the rugged landscape of Finland, but it seems more indebted to US shopping malls. True, there is a polished Scandinavian efficiency to the self-assembly angst of Guilty, the calamitous drum fills of Still Standing, the bright chord progression of Wellwell or the rotor-blade chop of First Day Of My Life. But there is something deadening about the shamelessly commercial formula.
In The Shadows, though, is a crunching, syrupy confection and, for an audience that may have come straight from the PlayStation expo at the RDS The Rasmus appear to be a favoured family treat, the new ice-cream sundae. "Thank you," says their singer. "Hope to see you all soon. . . . Buy a T-shirt." Peter Crawley
Butt, OSC/Douglas
National Concert Hall, Dublin
Tchaikovsky - Rococo Variations, Serenade for strings. Shostakovich - Cello Concerto No 1
It was during the post-Stalin "thaw" that Shostakovich composed his Cello Concerto No 1, for the great Mstislav Rostropovich, in 1959. Restraints were being eased, and the party was striving to promote Soviet art and culture internationally by exporting it. This was good news for musicians such as Rostropovich, David Oistrakh and Eugeny Mravinsky, who began to perform in the West, and for Shosta- kovich, whose music they played there.
Yet despite the improving conditions the concerto is characterised by the same hard-hitting contrast between bitter humour and almost overwhelming grief found in the symphonies and string quartets that the composer wrote against the backdrop of Stalin's repressive regime and the horrors of the war.
This stark contrast was powerfully evident in the performance by soloist William Butt in the second concert of his three-week series The Great Cello Concertos, on Tuesday night. He used a biting, piercing voice in his agile handling of the quickand mocking outer movements. He was then quite different - grieving and tender - in the second movement, with its great emotional depth and quiet air of near despair.
Butt was persuasive as well as entirely assured in the third movement, a long, contemplative solo cadenza that grows into a tumultuous bridge passage to the finale. The Orchestra of St Cecilia and conductor Barry Douglas were at their best in this piece. They were sensitive and engaged, matching the soloist with an intensity they seldom generated elsewhere in the all-Russian programme. There appeared a shortfall between what Douglas asked for and what he received in Tchaikovsky's Serenade, this combining with some less than fully focused playing in the violins for a rather lacklustre performance. There was further fruitful teamwork in Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations, where Douglas and the orchestra gracefully supported Butt's deft solo line. Michael Dungan
