J. W. Goethe: FAUST

This adaptation of Faust is a co-production between the Slovenian National Theatre Drama Ljubljana and the 63rd Ljubljana Festival, which unfortunately for the Slovenian, European and global theatre audiences became the last performance of Tomaž Pandur’s staggering theatrical opus. The renowned theatre director tackled, for the third time in his rich career, one of the greatest European myths: Goethe’s Faust. Although the story of Faust is based on the medieval legend of a man who sold his soul to the devil, it actually represents the alienation of modern man and his need for understanding himself and the world in a broader context of the universe. Pandur has alchemically transformed the legend of Faust into the intellectual and emotional spirit of our own time and constructed his own poetry and truth along the way. Amidst the eternal battle against an all-encompassing evil, Faust points us toward an infinite yearning for everything unreachable or unattainable: family, love, youth, beauty. Entering the field of magic, the landscapes of cosmic spheres, Faust is able to attain experience and completion, love and power, but the blood contract with Mephistopheles – or himself – forces him back into solitude and the transience of life.

We follow a man set between heaven and earth, trying to discover the truth and meaning of his existence. And this is precisely the purpose of theatre – to speak and ask questions about the most crucial affairs of human existence. Goethe ventured to state that the battle between good and evil propels humanity and gives it an unshakeable faith in its future.