Faustus in Africa

South African creator William Kentridge first transposed Goethe's Faustus selling his soul to the devil to the African continent 30 years ago. Against a backdrop of colonialism, it uses life-like puppets alongside actors to portray Faustus on safari in Africa. A new production arrives in Paris fresh from the Edinburgh Festival.

Kentridge is a  a visual artist who creates shows that combine theatre, dance, music, film, drawing,  animation and in this case, puppets.

Handspring Puppet Company was founded in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1981. The company originally made shows for children but by 1985, with the country in political transition, had switched their focus to adults. This was when they collaborated with William Kentridge on the original production of Faustus in Africa. The company became world-renowned when they created the life-size horse puppets for the British National Theatre's adaptation of War Horse. More recently, they made the giant puppet of a Syrian refugee girl involved in the refugee awareness campaign Walk with Little Amal.

Kentridge's Faustus progresses across Africa, destroying animals, provoking conflict and exploiting all he finds. The characters are represented by actors or actors manipulating puppets. But the devil himself is a disembodied voice down the wires of an old-fashioned telephone exchange.

Kentridge says today's production is less focussed on the transition from apartheid to majority government, which were foremost in his mind in 1985 when, "The relationship of the whole question of colonialism was just starting to bubble into the consciousness of former colonial powers. What to do with old monuments, how to deal with the past. These are questions which have got stronger rather than have disappeared over the last 30 years."

 

Faustus in Africa
Théâtre de la Ville, Paris
11-19 September 2025
Performed in English with French surtitles