Faust

Faust is a story based on an ancient legend of a scholar who yearns so much for just a moment of happiness that he makes a pact with the devil.

It is also a reflection on the different stages of human life – Goethe started working on this story in his youth and continued into old age. Lastly, it is a mirror held up to European culture as a whole and one of its greatest masterpieces.

Successive generations have gazed at themselves in this mirror for two hundred years. What do today's creators see in it, having grown up at the turn of the century and facing the future with the baggage of their own experiences?

Rehearsal for Faust – Damian Kwiatkowski, Henryk Simon, Paweł Brzeszcz. Photo by Marta Ankiersztejn 

direction: Wojciech Faruga
dramaturgy: Julia Holewińska
set and light design, costume: Katarzyna Borkowska
music: Teoniki Rożynek
choreography, stage movement: Bartłomiej Gąsior

technological projects and execution of elements of decoration and props: technical studios of the National Theatre

The play contains excerpts from Hymn of the Pearl, a passage of the apocryphal Acts of Thomas (trans. Czesław Miłosz). 
The idea of using suitcases containing items representing the 20th century was taken from Peter Greenaway's film trilogy The Tulse Luper Suitcases.

Please mind that in some scenes during the show appear incense smoke and cigarette smoke, as well as loud gunshots. 

Cast

• Cezary Kosiński
  Faust
  
• Paweł Brzeszcz
  Mephistopheles 5, Wagner
  
• Aleksandra Justa
  Mephistopheles 3
  
• Mateusz Kmiecik
  Mephistopheles 4
  
• Damian Kwiatkowski
  Mephistopheles 1 (guest actor)
  
• Sławomira Łozińska
  Mephistopheles 2
  
• Wiesław Cichy
  The Lord, The Treasurer, Chrion
  
• Małgorzata Kożuchowska
  Spirit, Beautiful Helen
  
• Henryk Simon
  Homunculus, The Chamberlain, Euphorion, Student
  
• Natalia Kawałek
  The Witch, Will O' The Wisp, Panthalis (guest actor)
  
• Hanna Wojtóściszyn
  Margaret, A Phorkyad
  
• Anna Grycewicz
  Martha, The Astrologer
  
• Adam Szczyszczaj
  Valentine, The Emperor
  
• Paulina Korthals
  Margaret's Mother, Leader of the Chorus
  
• Piotr Piksa
  Lynceus, Bishop
  

Production team

• director's assistant: Maciej Jaszczyński  
• lighting technicians: Bartłomiej Kaczalski, Zbigniew Szulim, Krzysztof Łukasz Stefan
• sound technicians: Mariusz Maszewski, Marek Szymański, Hubert Majewski
• stage manager: Katarzyna Kłosowska-Kobiałka
  prompter: Anna Leszczyńska

Licence for this stage production was granted by the Society of Authors – ZAiKS.