EIF Review: Faustus in Africa!

Directed, designed, and animated by William Kentridge, this resurrection of the Handspring Puppet Company’s award-winning 1995 production blends live acting, puppetry and animation to transport Goethe’s vision of Faust to the hideous height of colonial Africa.

News: The Handspring Puppet Company’s Faustus in Africa will play the Coronet Theatre, London between the 5th and 16th of November 2025!

For booking details see the foot of this article.

Still a scholar frustrated with reaching the limits of human knowledge, this Faust finds himself transported to Africa when Mephistopheles (Wessel Pretorius) makes him the deal of a lifetime. Anything he wants whilst he’s alive, in return for his soul afterwards.

Faustus in Africa promptly sets about deflowering everything in sight, egged on by Mephistopheles.

The story motors along rhythmically thanks to the versified text, translated by Robert David Macdonald with additional text by Lesego Rampolokeng. It’s a mixed bag, it must be said, sometimes providing a touch of romantic gravitas, or perhaps a vicious poetic edge, but equally prone to seeming needlessly florid, or worse, inscrutable.

The production itself is rather marvellous, however, set within an imposing library which begins as Mephistopheles’s base of operations, before morphing into an abstract landscape in which Faust sets about his conquests, embodied as a rapacious safari wherein no human, animal, or resource is safe. When text and action align, the result is a gripping, dark adventure; when they don’t, well, it’s still a fascinating watch.

“The story motors along rhythmically thanks to the versified text, translated by Robert David Macdonald with additional text by Lesego Rampolokeng. It’s a mixed bag, it must be said, sometimes providing a touch of romantic gravitas, or perhaps a vicious poetic edge, but equally prone to seeming needlessly florid, or worse, inscrutable.“

For backdropping and augmenting the story, are Kenridge’s famous lo-fi black-and-white animations, though – again – not always in synergy with the action before it. Still they are impressive, and there’s no mistaking the grotesque, rifle-shot soundtracked wounds being inflicted as Faust journeys across the continent – handily mapped on screen between scenes.

The play’s population half-size puppets, operated and voiced by Eben Genis, Atandwa Kani, Mongi Mthombeni, Asanda Rilityana, Buhle Stefane, and Jennifer Steyn, are a wonder. They may be more than a few years old in theatrical terms, but they remain an impressive collection, particularly the cheeky, demonic Hyena, all skin and bones, and a vulture-like witch who rustles up a rejuvenation potion for Faust at the start of his misadventures.

For my part, however, I was most fond of the marching band prone to heralding African rulers – and thus most distraught when they faced a firing squad! Justice for the band!

Kudos are due to all the puppeteers for bringing their crafted characters to vivid and believable life. Does it sometimes feel a little bit like the Thunderbirds, maybe, but with more style and a great deal more attitude!

The MVP of Faustus in Africa, however, must be Pretorius, notable as the human-sized fallen angel amongst a world of puppeted humanity. He is a swaggering devil, suited and booted (so to hide those cloven hoofs), and ready for mischief. His interactions with the puppets never feel at all forced, nor his hungry interest in helping Faust express his worst ambitions.

Ultimately, however, Kentridge has this devil and our leading characters find a distinctly cynical finale which doesn’t suit God, and certainly wasn’t in Mephistopheles’ playbook when the play began. The practical needs of countries, and the political desires of their leaders, Kentridge seems to say, will always supersede any instinct towards natural justice.

I rather like this subversion expected ‘tragedy’ or indeed ‘deus ex machina’ which normally attends Faust’s end, and only wish the preceding drama, however striking in appearance, were as pointed, coherent and satisfactory.

Featured Image: MediaCall – FaustusinAfrica_20-08-25_©Jess Shurte