William Kentridge
Faustus in Africa!
septembersept 11 – 19
© Fiona MacPherson ©
© Fiona MacPherson ©
© Fiona MacPherson ©
Thursday september 11
20h
Friday september 12
20h
Saturday september 13
15h
Saturday september 13
20h
Monday september 15
20h
Tuesday september 16
20h
Wednesday september 17
20h
Thursday september 18
20h
Friday september 19
20h
Directed by William Kentridge. Artistic collaboration with Lara Foot. Design and direction of puppets Adrian Kohler, Basil Jones (Handspring Puppet Company). Associate director of puppets and rehearsals Enrico Dau Yang Wey. Stage design Adrian Kohler, William Kentridge. Animation by William Kentridge. Construction of puppets by Adrian Kohler, Tau Qwelane. Costumes Hazel Maree, Hiltrud von Seidlitz, Phyllis Midlane. Special effects Simon Dunckley. Set design Adrian Kohler. Stage design by Dean Pitman for Ukululama Projects. Painting and decorating by Nadine Minnaar for Scene Visual Productions. Translation Robert David Macdonald. Additional text Lesego Rampolokeng. Music James Phillips, Warrick Sony. Sound design Simon Kohler. Lighting and production manager Wesley France. Stage manager and video operator Thunyelwa Rachwene. Stage manager Tebogo Laaka. Video controller Kim Gunning. Plateau technician Lucile Quinton. With Eben Genis, Atandwa Kani, Mongi Mthombeni, Wessel Pretorius, Asanda Rilityana, Buhle Stefane, Jennifer Steyn.
Production of the reprise 2025 Quaternaire (Sarah Ford, Roxani Kamperou, Emmanuelle Taccard) in co-production with the Théâtre de la Ville-Paris; Festival d'Automne à Paris
Co-production (ongoing) The Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town (Cape Town); Battat Art Centre (Montreal); Domaine d’O, Printemps des Comédiens – Montpellier; Fondazione Campania des Festival – Campania Teatro Festival (Naples); Grec Festival (Barcelona); Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels); Thalia Theater (Hamburg)
Handspring Puppet Company in association with The Market Theatre; Art Bureau (Munich), Kunstfest (Weimar); Standard Bank National Arts Festival; The Foundation for the Creative Arts; Sharp Electronics; Mannie Manim Productions
The Théâtre de la Ville-Paris and the Festival d'Automne in Paris are co-producers and present this show in co-realisation.
Thirty years after it was first performed, the South African visual artist William Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Company breathe new life into their Faustus in Africa! Behind its nostalgia-inspired aesthetic, this irreverent reinterpretation of Goethe is as relevant as ever.
Dating back to the aftermath of the abolition of apartheid, the collaboration between the South African actors and puppeteers of the Handspring Puppet Company, and their compatriot William Kentridge, a major visual artist with his origins in theatre, gave rise to four shows between 1992 and 2001. Thirty years after it was premiered, they have decided to restage Faustus in Africa!, an iconoclastic rereading of the Goethe myth. What is so striking is the weight of nostalgia in Kentridge's visual universe, in which the still and animated projections of his drawings dialogue with each other. It illustrates a greedy and corrupt Faust as he goes on the rampage in a colonial Africa, and whose wealth he devours. Evoking the plundering of natural resources through mining and the dominant politics in present-day South Africa, as in the rest of the world, the message of this puppet theatre classic remains painfully relevant. Will we go so far as to betray our own selves by sealing a pact with the devil in order to satisfy our appetite for immediate gain? On stage, the face-to-face between the puppets and the performers renders this question all the more disturbing.
In the same place
