Faustus in Africa

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.

See Faust by Goethe.

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]

Translations and adaptations

In 2025 Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Theatre, in association with , created a reimagined staging of the play.

Performance history in South Africa

World première on 22 June 1995 at the Weimar Arts Festival in Germany.

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: A reimagined staging of the play put on at the Baxter Theatre, Cape Town from 26 February to 22 March. Directed by William Kentridge