Gateway Theatre at Chester Cathedral
James Hayes as Doctor Faustus
Directed by David Thacker
The principle joy here was wonderful James Hayes in the title role. He has since written an entertaining memoir about his half-century as a working actor called Shouting in the Evenings: 50 Years on the Stage.
Doctor Faustus has some great speeches, but the comic scenes, which were the ones I was mostly involved with, can be hard work. I remember struggling with the material. I assume the audience must have struggled, too.
This was the first of three productions I did at Chester with Chris Honer’s associate director, David Thacker. After a fifteen year gap, we were to encounter each other again at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
