PERFORMANCE – MUSIC – VISUAL ARTS
FaustX
Brett Bailey’s radical reimagining of Goethe’s Faust II begins where Faust I ends. Having made a pact with Mephisto, Dr Faust sets out on a relentless quest for experience and power, manipulating the economies of the Global South, playing war games on the fringes of Europe and pursuing grand technological schemes to control nature, society and even distant planets.
Performed by an irreverent troupe of masked South African performers, the production takes us through a surreal and unsettling world of greed, ambition and unchecked desire. Faust is a perpetual outsider, forever crossing frontiers in search of something beyond his reach — with increasingly devastating consequences.
Created by Brett Bailey as an international co-production for Weimar, FaustX is a visually powerful and haunting contemporary interpretation of one of the great stories of human ambition, temptation and the desire to control the world.
Running time: 90 minutes, no intermission
Age recommendation: 12+
Languages: German and English
CREDITS
Writer, Designer & Director: Brett Bailey
Dramaturg: ChatGPT
Design Collaborator: Tanya P. Johnson
Video Editor: Kirsti Cumming
Sound Editor: Simon Kohler
German Voice Artists: Lionel Tomm & Jessica Masague Honorato
Choreographer: Natalie Fisher
Costume Coordinator: Enrique de Villiers
Lighting Designer: Nicolaas de Jongh
Production Manager: Yusuf Abrahams
Stage Manager: Fundiswa Mrali
Producer & General Manager: Barbara Mathers
Performers & Creative Collaborators:
Darion Adams
Liezl de Kock
Iman Isaacs
Sophie Joans
Siphenathi Mayekiso
Toni Morkel
Production: Third World Bunfight
Created for: Kunstfest Weimar 2025
Co-production: Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers – CDN; Kleist Forum Frankfurt (Oder)
With support from: Spier Wine Farm, South Africa
Music recordings courtesy of:
BNF · Denovali Records · Esoteric Antennae Records · Deutsche Grammophon · Pelagic Records · Smalltown Supersound · Naxos Music · Kompakt · One Media Publishing · Naïve Records · Zefir Records · Universal Music · Biophon Records · Celestial Harmonies
Photos: © Candy Welz — production photos from Weimar