The Last Supper of Dr Faustus
THE LAST SUPPER OF DR FAUSTUS
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A very broad adaptation of Marlowe's play, this dark cabaret combines Marlowe's text with original verse, new dialogue: plus songs, a live band, burlesque, a sit-down meal and a real Satanic mass.
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The audience are invited to eat with the eminent Doctor Faustus, and the menu is a crucial part of the show. Between courses, a cabaret version of Faustus' life story is performed by a company of devils. Tonight is his last night on earth.
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I wrote/ compiled the script, a diabolic mash-up of The Bible. Marlowe, Nina Simone and me.
I really enjoyed working on the musical 'book' with composer Nick Underwood . This was a two-way process where sometimes I wrote lyrics and he scored them, and other times he gave me the tune and I found the words for it. Often with rehearsals happening around us.
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'The Last Supper of Doctor Faustus' was performed by Rough Magic (Scotland) on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 1996. It was directed by Martin Danziger.
Scotsman Fringe First Award
REVIEWS
"A meal at Mephistopheles' table: a wondrous way of luring the audience a new into the perennially powerful Faust legend. Blood-red soup is more than just a gimmick: it involves all present in a black communion, while the devil presents a cabaret with such stars as the Seven Deadly Sins. The show is full of confidence and panache, sympathy for the devil has rarely been so entertaining." The Scotsman 23/8/96 (Fringe First Reviews)
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"Anita Sullivan rewrites Marlowe with admirable disrespect... total theatre from soup to nuts." Independent on Sunday 20/8/96 Matthew Sweet.
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"The dastardly doctor gets his comeuppance in raunchy, demonic cabaret." The Guardian 19/8/96 Michael Billington.
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"Anita Sullivan's profane humour... would shame Ken Russell. A ravishing interpretation that transforms a familiar morality play into eminently digestible Fringe fare." The Evening News. 20/8/96 Liese Spenser
