cheeky grin, “What? You thought you were safe?” The pair ascend a platform where they remain throughout, as though the ensuing events are wholly for their own amusement. Unholy spectators or diabolical puppet-masters?  That’s for you to decide but one fact remains indisputable: the vocal and musical talents of the pair are bar none. They lent a stunning accompaniment to the performance, both in songs and sound effects.

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     Enter the title character; what a fabulous portrayal of Doctor Faustus. The depth of character attained by the actor is truly remarkable. His thirst for knowledge is superseded by his appetite for power, yet he is not an evil man. Misguided, perhaps and seduced by the allure of the unknown to be sure. He flippantly and even ticklishly denounces all things political, philosophical and theological in favor of something more heretical. Sometimes there are forces beyond ourselves which we ought not meddle with. Instinct warns against it yet curiosity of what could be overrides better judgment. Such is the case with Faustus and the old adage of what curiosity did to the cat is not taken into consideration here.

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     He conjures Mephistopheles and I felt as though I was bearing witness to a séance—one which I knew would end badly. The cacophony of sounds and voices overlying the invocation was near maddening. From this point forward any mention of the Dark Lord’s name elicited an echo of slithering whispers from every corner of the room. It was frightening enough to make you want to flee lest you become damned yourself. The curtain in the backdrop opens for a moment and we catch a glimpse into the abyss before Faustus begs the apparition away and wills the demon to appear in a different form.

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     Mephistopheles was portrayed by different players representing different incarnations befitting the needs of Faustus (or perhaps I should say befitting that which would serve to tantalize him the most at a given moment.) He is imposing, threatening, demonic by every standard of the word at first; genteel, well-spoken and aristocratic; even feminine, beguiling and erotic. This was a well-calculated decision and seamlessly implemented.

Faustus’ moments of doubt and question are cleverly enhanced by the good and evil angels, who appear in the windows behind him, one beseeching him to shun his temptations and turn to scripture while the other relentlessly goads him on. Given the scope and nature of the story I haven’t fully decided whether they are actual entities unto themselves or a manifestation of his own conscience (or lack thereof.) They were very much reminiscent of cartoon shoulder angels.

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     And while on the subject of temptations from bad angels, here is an excellent place to segue into one of my favorite parts. The bad angel burlesque was a sizzling display of talent and energy. Choreographed by the bad angel herself, the dancers were so in tune with each other and so hot I wouldn’t have been surprised to see steam pouring off them! Lucifer singing “The Devil’s on the Dance Floor” during this segment couldn’t have been more appropriate!

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     Faustus dances with them and other devils take the stage, first encouraging his merriment but then they start mucking with him to the point he’s got to be asking himself, “What the hell is going on?” No pun intended. It’s a moment that really gives one pause. I think it safe to say we’ve all experienced some point in our lives when we’ve engaged with things or people we knew were not good for us and asked ourselves what we’ve gotten into. There was an emotional one-eighty during the burlesque where things went from sinful delight to oh shyte!

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     For those unfamiliar with the story, Faustus sells his soul in exchange for the servitude of Mephistopheles for twenty-four years. (Though why anyone willing to sell his soul wouldn’t ask for more time is anyone’s guess!) He uses a hypodermic needle in the signing of this contract and thus begins a prolific level of drug use that is carried throughout the rest of the performance. A lot could be said about the underlying message of this and the parallels that can be drawn between selling one’s soul and drug addiction. It’s a powerful statement, to say the least.

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     The spectacular moments of this production are too numerous to elaborate on here: Mephistopheles becoming a one-man show in portraying each of the seven deadly sins; Faustus becoming invisible to taunt the clergy; having his head cut off and being resurrected to scare the pants off his murderers. These are merely highlights to an overall thoroughly enjoyable show!If hell were a circus, surely this is what it would look like!

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     The panoply of amusing events comes to a predestined yet shocking conclusion when the time comes for Faustus to pay his due. We watch in rapt terror as he is dragged backward toward hell’s gate. The utter physicality of his performance was boggling. Nothing was touching him yet it looked very realistically as though he were fighting against invisible forces, struggling to keep them from pulling him away. Despite all the fun that Faustus had, who really gets the last laugh?

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     WKP’s dedication to their ideals is unprecedented. They are such a talented group of individuals and it saddens me that there will be no more shows until the weather grows warm again. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any pictures because my phone died but this was one hell of a final performance! I can’t wait to see what they will bring to us next season! Follow them on Facebook if you’d like to see for yourself the magic they invoke. The spirit of Billy Shakes is alive under the guise of Will Kempe’s Players! Bravo!

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