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F@ust Version 3.0 Based on Faust I and II by J.W. Goethe Goethe's Faust is a monumental work. Monumental because of the breadth and depth of the literary thought that it generates, because of its condition as a lifetime's work - a work that Goethe takes up again and again from his youth and only leaves definitively finished before his death-, but also because of the quality of the versions which it has left as sequels. The legend of Faust, the possibility of a pact between a human and infernal powers, can, however, be traced back to antiquity and is, therefore, prior to the historical character on which it is based. Magister Georgius Sabellicus Faustus Junior (The Knowledgeable Master George Faustus Junior), who was born in 1480 and died in 1540, was historically a dark character, doctor of theology, astrologer, necromancer, devil worshiper and travelling showman. The anonymous work The History of Dr.Johann Faustus (1587) was written in times of religious struggle and witch hunts and identifies the very desire for knowledge of the Renaissance with the diabolic arts. Significantly, however, the lust for knowledge is the element which, beyond popular literature (here it is necessary to include the puppet version that impressed Goethe as a child), is to be found in the origins of the cultured reworkings of the legend, and especially in the two parts (1808 and 1832) of Goethe's Faust. Goethe's Faust is a classic, that is to say, a work that needs to be read and read again and which in each rereading enlarges its vast universe of meaning. But there is more. Goethe's Faust is a work of verse and proves to be practically untranslatable, because the sound and rhythm of the verses form part of the content. Both circumstances always and inevitably make any approximation of Goethe's Faust a version. F@ust version 3.0 takes Goethe's Faust I and II as immediate references. It is a free translation because in addition it was necessary to translate it into the scenic language characteristic of La Fura dels Baus . In any case, the freedom of F@ust version 3.0 is neither purely arbitrary, nor purely modern aesthetics: it tries to interpret Goethe's thoughts from coordinates of today within which God (which god?), Mephistopheles (metaphor of what?) or Faust's desire for knowledge (which Nature is left for us to read?) cannot have the same meaning. Our present throws us inescapably towards a new form of knowledge, marked by tools which are now so familiar, and possibilities yet to be explored, like computers and Internet. The saturation of information in the computer web, often read from an optimism which is heir to the optimism of progress, does not improve, nor transform the human condition, created without purpose by evolution's laws of chance: tied to the imperious demands of primary instincts against which the retaining walls of social rules are erected. F@ust version 3.0 uses a diversity of languages to explain the story which are those of the sensibility of contemporary men and women. Theater, music, video, objects, lights and action are interlaced to explain the original story synthesized, fragmented, unfolded. Without loosing the tragic resonance, all the characters are characters with possible biographies in our towns and cities. In F@ust version 3.0 Faust is an inhabitant of the distressingly desolate image of the Universe that has emerged from the Big Bang, immersed in the dissatisfaction of the incapacity to live. Mephistopheles is not the devil of the Christian tradition, but the unfolding of Faust, he is the dark being, the internal devil of instinct, capable of throwing reason to the deliriums of passion and death. His journey crosses the dark side of social reality. Margaret is, in short, the universal victim, paradigm of any violence committed against the weak. Around her the characters shape the contemporary world which we live in. F@ust version 3.0 is the unleashing of desire, of the passion of love and death, the unleashing of that dual being, monster without purpose or desire which is Faust and Mephistopheles. We have carried out a process of digitalisation of Faust until we have reached his binary duality: 0-1. La Fura of F@ustF@ust Version 3.0 is a free adaptation of Faust by Goethe, father of German romanticism. From this work La Fura has created a staging with the characteristic resources of the language of the company united with the incorporation of theatrical texts. This fusion proposes a production for a seated audience, an unusual thing in the company's performances. The simultaneous nature of a visual language like video, mixed with texts interpreted by the actors, is a new line of creation for La Fura dels Baus. In this framework the spectator occupies a central role. It is the spectator, who in the Fura's previous works was accosted by the action of the performance, who, from their theater seat, has to decipher, within themself, the transcendence of the myth who sold his soul to the devil. A spectator used to the sofa at home, a television format and the infinity of channels on offer, can excitedly visit the keys to their own domestic tragedy. The channel switching will be done by La Fura. This creation transcends the concept of author in order to delve further into collective creation. A kind of union between past and future in a present time where Faust emerges as a myth in a lyrical, visual and sonorous universe. Staging F@UST Acts I, II Following the thread of the 'action' we find Dr. Faust in the intimacy of his room, subject to the oscillations in his head. Desires and invocations emerge from among his exclamations to the world, to the spirits, even through Internet. All those calls receive empty answers. His anxiety feeds itself in the corridors of his mind, subject to a specific illumination his internal purring. Bored with himself he tries suicide. We will never know if he failed in the
attempt or if all of Faust is an exhalation. What is certain is that
Mephistopheles, manifest evil or even the shadow of Faust himself ,
depending on the version, presents himself to him willing to give him
what he desires. The demonic rhythm begins with an initiating baptism. Now
in the immersion, some female hands rise from the very waters stirred by
Faust, someone was waiting for him in the bath. Faust signs his commitment
with blood. Accused, Net, Carcass "...the great world is made of small worlds"
With Mephistopheles' own words the death of the young woman is accelerated.
Slung on a hook like an animal carcass, the first personification of the
woman inside Faust hangs. Faust in a comatose state, perpetually sleeping, in a vegetative state, lying on a bed. If before he was trying to live his dreams through his own body, now he is looking through his dreams for a body. Faust dreams in his voyage to the mothers of ideas or archetypes that form plurality. He will dream in his impetuous search for a physical entity that he has become a human embryo. Later, after a symbolic wedding with Helena, he will be born and will take physical shape in the figure of Euphorion or Icarus. The second part or great world, is the integrator of East and West, of North and South, of Fire and Water, of Intelligence and Life, but always at the end, and fatally, life Intelligence is defeated by Life. In this way, at the end of Faust's dream, in which he imagines that he is Euphorion or Icarus, he ends up hurling himself into the abyss. It is in that moment that Faust wakes up form his vegetative lethargy and asks, "Is there anyone here?" A voice, the voice of Anxiety , answers him, "The question requires a Yes." In our version of Faust , the protagonist loses the bet and is, naturally, defeated by life. F@UST MUSIC ON LINE fmol: http: //www.sgae.es/fmol Prize International Institute of Electroacoustic Music, Bourges - France Fmol - F@ust Music On Line is an open invitation to participate through the Internet
in the musical composition of a part of the sound track of the spectacle. The music of these parts of the show is precisely what creators from all over the world compose by playing the Bamboo (intelligence) and Medusa (life) instruments included in this software. The drama of F@ust v.3.0, starts in Faust´s dissatisfaction with the impossibility of knowledge, that, in the age of Internet, does not lie in the superiority of nature and the weakness of human knowledge, but in the surplus of information: fragmentary information that creates the hallucination of absolute knowledge, the vertigo of a false knowledge, an enciclopedism on a world wide scale. Faust's encounter with his alter ego, Mephistopheles, and his world of the instincts unleash the tragedy. Our Faust is, therefore, a reading done by end-of-century dwellers. Persons with a synchronous vision of the world, just like what is observed when you use the television or computer channels to relate to the world, persons who have seen the achievements of reason - stadiums full of hooligans or prisoners -, persons who use emergency reasoning to verbalise reality, persons who question the idea of authorship and who have constructed a few sections of this work on the basis of relations established via the Internet. Persons, in short, immersed in a different span of modernity from that in which Faust was born, possibly our big brother and, therefore, difficult to understand if we do not speak of him amongst ourselves. In F@ust version 3.0 we do just that: talk of Faust amongst ourselves. The question of intellectual property rights in the new communication media, such as the Internet, CD-ROMs or other formats, is arousing a great deal of confused discussion It is necessary for initiatives to appear that will provide fresh examples that may be observed and which will create precedents that may shed a ray of light on this new situation. Being aware of the need for these shake-ups, the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (S.G.A.E.) (Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers) backs and produces this project and will simplify formalities for all the writers of the compositions selected by LA FURA DELS BAUS to receive their lawful rights. DIGITAL THEATER 2From its beginnings LA FURA DELS BAUS has developed projects within a framework of new perceptions. Its principal theme has always been the opening of doors to the unknown. At the moment this intervention is generating a series of productions in which telecommunications are allied to theatre, music and other proposals. Performances which are simultaneously developed in spaces which are physically separated, but which are connected via a digital network, the creation of a musical composition via Internet or the organisation of a progressive planet party are some of our challenges. One of the essential characteristics of this section is the invitation to participate and create collectively. Productions like M.T.M., Work in Progress, F@ust version 3.0 and Manuel de Falla's musical cantata Atlantida or Claude Debussy's The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian have provided the bases for what we call Digital Theater. In forthcoming projects like The Damnation of Faust or B.O.M. elements will continue to be contributed , perhaps video conferencing, to this section. DIGITAL ACHIEVEMENTS IN F@ust version 3.0A fluid relationship between actor and projections has been created. The actor emerges from the image, from potentiality. At times their body becomes a screen, at others their real body is a projection, at others their real shadow is a projection. It is in this body-screen-projection relationship, where the most important step in the search for a digital theatre has been made. After this technical achievement it has been easy to attain other conceptual achievements, as could be the manipulation of time, something which abounds in Goethe's work and which was very interesting to apply in our version. Time stops (Faust second attempt at suicide), time accelerates (Faust's dream), or time is deconstructed and is superimposed (Margarita Mix) or time slows down (spirit). Another of the consequences of this technical achievements has also taken shape in the concept of light, video is diluted by the light of stage lighting. Light is not just light, in F@ust version 3.0 it is bodies and shadows in movement, errant spirits or magical elements. La Fura a Faust of theaterLa Fura is a company, which took its first steps with a production called "Accions", apparently following the superlative Faustian phrase "Im Anfang war die Tat" ("In the beginning there was the action.") Then came the pact with the devil, that devil which promises to satisfy all desires, but which only concedes virtual achievements. A blood pact with technology, the undeniable tormentor in previous eras, whether industrial or preindustrial. From reason to feeling the Furan essence has been projected through an aesthetic where the human body has been the sentient factor affronting the harsh creations of the human mind. With these elements as a base, the actor has never been the only one center of Furan works, just as the character of Faust is not the center of Faust. In a polyhedric world there is no room for warped interpretations. Faust is Mephistopheles and Margarita and at the same time Helena and Wagner, state of the art technology and suicide from a clifftop. From this concept of simultaneousness La Fura proposes this F@ust version 3.0 as a step forward in the comprehension of our era, and who better to guide us than the Devil in a world saturated with anxious minds? In this network the spectator occupies the role we have snatched from Faust. It is the audience that in La Fura's previous works was accosted by the action of the spectacle, who now from their traditional theater seat must decipher, within themselves, the transcendence of the myth. A spectator used to their sofa at home, the format of television and the offer of an infinity of channels, will be able to excitedly visit the keys to their own domestic tragedy. The channel switching will be done by La Fura. LA FURA DELS BAUS presents:F@ust Version 3.0 Based on Faust I and II by J. W. Goethe Directed by: Alex Ollé &Carlos Padrissa (La Fura dels Baus) Conceived by; Pablo Ley, Carlos Padrissa Alex Ollé, Magda Puyo Stage direction: Magda Puyo Texts: Pablo Ley Special collaboration: Jaume Plensa Film direction: Emmanuel Carlier & Franc Aleu Costume design: Jaume Plensa Set design: Roland Olbeter Lighting, based on an original design by: Albert Faura Sound design: Marc Sardà Music: Big Tòxic & Alex Martín Video technnical design: Jordi Casinos Software design (FMOL): Sergi Jordà Technical realization: Alberto Pastor & Carles Bertolín Technical manager: Lina Valero Cast: YOUNES BACHIR-LAFRITZ: Student - Witch CARLES FIGOLS: Wagner JORGE FLORES DR. FLO: Deejay MIQUEL GELABERT: Mephistopheles MERCÈ ROVIRA: Female spirit - Marthe SANTI PONS: Faust ANDRÉS HERRERA: Valentin SARA ROSA: Margarethe Authors of F@ust music on line: Cristina Casanova, Daniel Juliá, Agustín Rodríguez Serrano, Juan Prieto, Sergi Jordá, Mª Isabel Sánchez, Rosa Sánchez, J.Bautista Mauri Mur, Eduardo Lanuza Abadía, Mónica Martín Guerra, Roberto López Corrales, Diego Dall´Osto, Justo Bagüeste, Eduardo Lanuza, Alain Baumann, Catalina Claro, Llibert Casanovas, Juan Prieto, Carlos Padrissa, Alain Wergifosse. Technical staff: Tour manager: Carole Groïa Technical manager (in tour): Ramón Tetas Stage manager: Joan Náger Video: Xavi Correa Light: Dani Santamaría Sound: Marc Romagosa Props: Juan Bautista Torres Tools: Jorge A. Rodríguez (Pulgui) Producction team: Production Manager: Lina Valero Production Assistant: Mireia Romero Administration: Anna Vinuesa Wardrobe: Toni Allende Runner: Xavier Arriola Funded by for Teatre Nacional de Catalunya Weimar, Capital cultural 1999 Centro Dramático Nacional, INAEM, Ministerio de Cultura, España Sponsorship by Pabellón de España, Expo´ 98. Lisboa Freixenet Mercedes Benz La Fura dels Baus receives support from Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Cultura Ministerio de Cultura, INAEM Project fmol, sponsored by Fundación Autor and S.G.A.E. Additional sponsors: COPEC Iberia BBV Red Nacional de Teatros Ayuntamiento de Torrelavega Acknowledgments: Inaut Control, Nexo, Adidas, Oframe, Eclipse, Roig Curvado S.A. |