Difference between revisions of "Faustus in Africa"
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==Translations and adaptations== | ==Translations and adaptations== | ||
| − | In 2025 Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Theatre, in association with , created a reimagined staging of the play. | + | In 2025 Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Theatre, in association with , created a A reimagined staging of the play was produced by Quaternaire/Paris and restaged with co-production support of [[The Baxter Theatre Centre]] at the [[University of Cape Town]] (Cape Town), Centre d'art Battat (Montreal), Kunstfest (Weimar), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Théâtre de la Ville/Festival d'Automne (Paris). |
== Performance history in South Africa == | == Performance history in South Africa == | ||
Revision as of 10:18, 17 March 2025
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Faustus in Africa is a play by William Kentridge, Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones (with additional text by Lesego Rampolokeng) and the Handspring Puppet Company - a multimedia blend of video, music, acting and puppetry.
Contents
The original text
Based on the legend of Faust, the sixteenth-century learned scholar who squandered his fortune and then sold his soul to the devil in exchange for additional time to search for the meaning of existence through travel and indulgences.
In this version Handspring’s Faustus, having made his pact with the devil, goes on a safari. Indulging in elaborate feasts and buying sprees, Faustus attempts to consume all that Africa has to offer. Transposed to Africa his desires become those of the archetypal greedy colonialist – his victims the African people and their land. [1]
World première on 22 June 1995 at the Weimar Arts Festival in Germany, produced by 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 and Mannie Manim Productions.
Translations and adaptations
In 2025 Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Theatre, in association with , created a A reimagined staging of the play was produced by Quaternaire/Paris and restaged with co-production support of The Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town (Cape Town), Centre d'art Battat (Montreal), Kunstfest (Weimar), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Théâtre de la Ville/Festival d'Automne (Paris).
Performance history in South Africa
1995: Premièred in South Africa at the Grahamstown Festival, directed by William Kentridge, with Dawid Minnaar (Faustus), Antoinette Kellerman (Helen of Troy and Witch), Leslie Fong (Mephisto), Busi Zokufa (Gretchen an God), Louis Seboko (Johnston), Basil Jones (Hyena), Adrian Kohler (Hyena) - music by James Phillips. Design by William Kentridge and Adrian Kohler, lighting design Mannie Manim, costumes by Hazel Maree and Hiltrud von Seydlitz.
1995: The same production was staged at the Market Theatre in July. The production won the 1996 Vita Award for Best Production of the Year of a new SA Play.
2025: The reimagined staging of the play opened in the Baxter Flipside at the Baxter Theatre, Cape Town from 26 February to 22 March. Directed by William Kentridge with Handspring Puppet Company and Lara Foot as Associate Director. Design by Adrian Kohler and William Kentridge, animation by William Kentridge. The cast consisted of Attandwa Kani, Jennifer Steyn and Wessel Pretorius, with puppeteers Asanda Rilityana, Buhle T. Stefane, Eben Genis and Mongi Nthombeni.
Sources
http://www.handspringpuppet.co.za/handspring-productions/faustus-in-africa/
Faustus in Africa theatre programme, 1995.
Ruphin Coudyzer. 2023. Annotated list of his photographs of Market Theatre productions. (Provided by Coudyzer)
Faustus in Africa Baxter Theatre poster, March 2025.
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