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Fiona Mountford's rating
Proceed to floor three for damnation
By
Fiona Mountford
18 Oct 2006
Leaving aside the subject matter contained therein for a moment, 21 Wapping Lane is the devil of a place to find. It can't, surely, be the abandoned building that looks like a maximum-security prison?
Appearances, as Faust himself is so memorably about to find out, can be deceptive. For inside this soon-to-be-redeveloped site is an astonishingly vital hub of theatrical activity.
Theatre, that is, in one of the looser senses of the word, for this new work from Punchdrunk is a site-specific, promenade installation.
Just one of those terms by itself is generally daunting enough, and yet this "response" to Goethe's take on the Faust legend is one of the most memorable evenings you're likely to have as an audience member all year.
Issued with a white, Eyes Wide Shut-looking-mask, you proceed to one of five floors, on which the action unfolds simultaneously and in two continuous 90-minute loops.
Initially, I was pitched into utter darkness. Next came a corridor full of knee-high statues of the Virgin Mary, dimly lit by offertory candles. I explored two entire floors and encountered not one of the 22 performers.
The first time I saw Faust and Mephistopheles, damnation was already unfolding to the crescendo of a requiem mass. It is incredibly liberating, not to say unusual, to feel in control of one's own theatrical consumption like this, to wander at liberty and follow, or not, cast members or distant music.
Directors Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle cleverly ensure that the quality of sensory experience more than compensates for the sometimes frustratingly fragmentary narrative. When someone - an actor? A fellow spectator? - brushes past you in the Stygian gloom, it is truly sinister. How thrilling that theatre can, momentarily, safely, thrust us way outside our comfort zone.
• Until 18 November. Information: 020 7452 3000; www.punchdrunk.org.uk
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (4)
I cannot emphasise enough how good this is and that you should go if you get the chance. The production is staged over 4 floors through which you can wander freely. You have very little chance of following the plot or staying with your friends but it is an amazing experience. Some will experience intense one on one encouters with the performers, other will simply enjoy the freedom of creating their own story and enjoying the mixture of fear and excitement of exploring a derelict warehouse in the dark.
- Peebee, London, UK, 08/03/2007 01:30
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Evocative and atmospheric: Spine-tingling and wondrous. Punchdrunk's 'Faust was a revelation.
Six floors of an abandoned Tobacco Warehouse were transformed into a dream world, like stepping through the wardrobe, pushing through the furs and finding yourself in Narnia. Pine forests, alchemists laboratories, bawdy bordellos, gambling dens and mile after mile of candlelit corridors leading you from one revelation to the next.
It was a world so haunting you felt like you'd entered a parallel universe where every night was Walpurgis Night and Mephistoles hid round every corner waiting for your soul.
Masked for anonymity you explore the labyrinthe and behind every door lies the teasing, eliding, vanishing sensation of dreams where the magical yet fleeting worlds collide.
It is an epic flight of the imagination, a breath-taking slow burner that subtly works its way into your blood. It's baffling and exhilarating but the rewards are mesmerising and the images will haunt you for nights beyond.
- Anna Blume, London, 03/11/2006 12:17
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I was lucky enough to have been to their previous 'show' The Firebird Ball, so had an idea of what to expect, but this in no way prepared me for the vastness of Faust.
Three floors of just the amazing sets, music, characters, even some magic at the bar! Stunning, there is something about Punchdrunk that touches you, in a way that theatre as you probably know it doesn't. It's like slipping into an alternative world for a couple of hours.
I can't recommend this more highly - go if you get the chance.
- Flo, London, 19/10/2006 12:37
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This is unlike any theatre experience you are likely to have had before. You wander round the performance in sometimes utter darkness, trying to keep a grip on the narrative thread stumbling from scene to scene in a most unusual manner. I can't say I'd recommend this to most theatre goers but if you've been to seen Tropicana at the vaults, you'll absolutely love this.
- James, Mile End, 18/10/2006 16:29
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