Double toil and trouble
Out, Out Damned Clock: Faust Meets Macbeth
By Nathaniel Green
Directed by Nathaniel Green
Footlight Players
Sande Shurin Theatre
311 W. 43rd. St. (212/352-3101)
Non-union production (closes Nov. 13)
Review by Charles Battersby
There are some tenuous
links between Macbeth and Faust; both are great men who become swept up in
supernatural affairs, and doom themselves by trying to gain more power. And …
well, some other stuff too. This loose relationship between Macbeth and Faust
is the subject of Nathaniel Green’s
new play Out, Out Damned Clock: Faust
Meets Macbeth.
The project ultimately
comes across as a modern retelling of the story of Faust, with a minuscule
subplot that is kinda reminiscent of Macbeth. In Green’s hands we attend
the tale of Fritz MacElroy (Ryan Darling),
an actor who has been disfigured in a fire. Fritz meets Memphis Pete (Nathaniel Green), a mobster who offers
to loan Fritz the money needed for reconstructive surgery (and enough to bribe
his way onto the Hollywood A-list). Memphis actually turns out to be a servant
of the devil, and Fritz must work to reclaim his soul before his time runs out,
a la Faust.
As for Macbeth, Fritz has
a brother (named Mac, of course) who is in the Army and plots to kill his
commanding officer. Mac’s wife is actually the driving force behind the murder
scheme, and seduces Fritz into providing the money needed to hire a Murderer.
The Macbeth-meet-Faust
angle just doesn’t work, either thematically or dramaturgically. The two
stories almost never interconnect, aside from the seduction scene. In fact, the
whole Macbeth story barely qualifies as a subplot (shortly after the
intermission, Memphis Pete informs Fritz, “Your brother was killed in a
gunfight with the police and his wife committed suicide,” thus entirely
dismissing the Macbeth portion of the show with one line of dialog).
There are lots of
Shakespeare, and Marlowe quotes tossed in as well, which might be expected, but
there are even some quotes from shows other than Macbeth and Faust,
including the scene where Mac decides to kill his boss and dramatically quotes
from Julius Cesar.
Green’s direction was
terribly overblown which, when combined with the long-winded dialog and
hamfisted symbolism, creates a show lacking in subtlety, and offering little to
expand the Faust mythos (Goethe, Marlowe, and Gounod already handled it).
There’s also an attempt to make the story funny, which doesn’t succeed, mostly
due to a lack of crisp dialog in the funny scenes, and a lack of comic timing
in its delivery.
When Fritz and Memphis
have their final showdown, a happy ending is brought about by a complete deux
ex machina ending in which Fritz ends up having his soul saved through no
action of his own, in a twist that wasn’t foreshadowed at all.
The cast gave it their
all, but generally weren’t up to the job (some of them were fresh out of school
and others were making their theatrical debut).
Given that it doesn’t
adhere much to its notion of Macbeth and Faust interacting, the project is not
likely to even hold the attention of Shakespeare/Marlowe buffs. So, if audience
members looking for a supernatural team-up should probably skip Faust Meet Macbeth and go with Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman.
Also featuring: Pat Garges, Paul Hummel, Katherine Williams,
Jeannette Acquavella, Maggie Le Vine, and Abigail Chaon.)
Writing: 1
Directing: 1
Acting: 1
Set: 1
Costumes: 1
Lighting/Sound: 1
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Copyright 2005 Charles Battersby