THEATRE REVIEW: Dr. Faustus Is Going To Hell, Is Going To Heaven. - The New Adelphi Theatre, Salford.

To mark the final part of her Masters Degree, Salford University student Kamila Wielebska performed her own self-penned one-woman play this afternoon in the New Adelphi Studio Theatre.

This 35 minute long piece, curiously titled, Dr. Faustus Is Going To Hell, Is Going To Heaven, was a very tragi-heroic, nightmarish, yet comedic vision of a female Dante figure called Cassandra, [was this THE Cassandra, one of King Priam's daughters who told prophesies which no-one believed??] and her meeting with the devil and .... well, actually a whole lot more besides. For a short play there was a huge amount of information packed into it. Wielebska is quite obviously highly intelligent and her brain is functioning on several different levels at one and the same time, and much of this was brought onto the stage too. A cruel political satire of a cruel political satire, with many layers and many levels. My only slight concern is that it might just be too 'clever', and perhaps needs thinning out a little in order to find a more tangible thread to the narrative. However, it is a non-linear and non-realistic narrative in any case and could be said to be a Dante-esque cross between Douglas Adams and David Lynch!

The stage setting was also very important as a line of mirrors went all the way across the back wall of the space and also another line directly behind our seats, meaning that these mirrors gave the stage a limitless space, and the idea of 'endless' and 'repetition' being themes in the play, this mirrored the action perfectly (yes, pun intended!). There was also a large painting hanging above the stage - the one shown here in this review. It is 'Dull Gret' by Bruegel (1563) which also made an important entrance into the narrative.

For me, the ending was a little weak and unsatisfying, but that is purely a subjective choice on my part. Otherwise, this was a very strong and multi-faceted piece of drama (with some obscure modern references thrown in for good measure and humour) and Wielebska proved herself to be not only a talented actress but a very creative and interesting writer too.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 11/7/19