★☆☆☆☆On paper, it’s an intriguing notion. Why not transform Faust, one of literature’s great antiheroes, into a young woman from the bottom of the social pile? And why not let her use her pact with the Devil to travel through time to the present day and beyond? There are all sorts of possibilities in the confrontation between the forces of darkness and a female adventurer determined to make her mark in the world, but they go to waste in Chris Bush’s numbingly simple-minded play. By the time the final scene had fizzled out I was feeling sorry for the actors who will be manacled to this farrago — a Headlong and Lyric Hammersmith co-production — as it tours the country for the next couple

Source: The Times January 29, 2020 12:11 UTC