Faustus Research

The Play

Dr Faustus was written by Christopher Marlowe about an arrogant man who sells his soul to the devil for power, experience, knowledge and pleasure. It was written in the 1500s and is considered the

most controversial Elizabethan play outside of Shakespeare.

Elizabethan Theatre

• Theatre companies toured all around England and some of Europe but most of the theatre happened in London.
• Unlike today, most theatre groups rarely performed the same play two days in a row.
• Costumes were usually bright and beautiful. However they were very expensive so often actors would wear their own clothes no matter what time period their play was set in.
• Only males were allowed to act. They used younger boys in female costumes to play the women. This was the same in Greek Theatre. 

An Elizabethan Theatre

Social, Political and Cultural Themes

The main theme in Dr Faustus is sin. Faustus makes a pact with the devil because he was greedy and arrogant. He formed an interest in magic which some would view as sinful too. Other prominent themes in the play are satanism and death. No matter how much Faustus had in life, death was inevitable and came for him in the end. You could also say that there is a theme of good vs evil. Faustus is torn between the two but in the end chooses his pleasures, regardless of whether or not they are good or bad.

How Are They Meaningful To The Original And Modern Audiences?

Christianity was a huge part of society in Elizabethan times so the theme of sin was prominent in every day life. Although it might not play such a big role in society today, everyone has temptations in their life and can relate to trying not to give into them. Good vs Evil is a universal theme that is found in many plays, it is something everyone has to face at some point and is not necessarily to do with religion. 

How Did You Ensure You Fully Appreciated The Context Of The Play?

Our performance of Faustus was modernized, we came up with our own modern day scenarios that fitted the story line. For example my group used a business man who has to decide whether to earn more money but become corrupt and ailenate his family, or stay a good person but not be as rich or go anywhere in his job. 

Although it was modernized we kept many features of the original play. For instance we used the same language in the script. We also wore our own clothes rather than costumes which as I mentioned before was common in Elizabethan theatre. When performing we addressed the audience a lot as this was something done by actors in that era. Something different that we did though was include female actors. in fact most of the time girls played male characters, whereas in the Elizabethan times it would have been men portraying women.