"Dr. Faustus"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 431, 26 September 1947, Page 14

"Dr. Faustus"

ARLOWE’S Dr. Faustus proved itself far less ready to take the air than its senior by 2,000 years The Trojan Women. For denuded of the trappings of a stage performance, the dramatic limitations of the theme are obvious. When Faustus in the full flush of his inteilectual pride yields his soul to Lucifer we are told that ail the kingdoms of the earth shall be his. But it is impossible for Marlowe. to depict on his narrow stage all the glories foreshadowed in that early speech of Faustus when he first realises what Mephistopheles can accomplish for him. Twenty-five years to satisfy his lust for knowledge and material power, and all Faustus can. show his beholders is a trumpery exhibition of magic, a vision or two, and a couple of elementary quiz sessions on the nature of things with Faustus as compére and Mephistopheles as one-man Brains Trust. Now this thinness is not so apparent in a stage presentation, where the visions at least are

satisfying. Mofeover there is no dramatic development in the character of Faustus himself. But true dramatic power was never Marlowe’s forte-his greatness

rests on the full-bodied energy of his poetry, and it is this that gives Dr. Faustus its momentum. But in the radio version the poetic momentum, more than ever necessary, was slowed down by the inclusion of the crude insets of clowning which few authorities consider Marlowe’s own additions.