Helen Gifford: Regarding Faustus

Abstract

Regarding Faustus is a music-theatre piece in one act (with prologue and two intermezzi). The libretto is by Helen Gifford and Harold Love, and is taken from The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, and various other sources. The sole performer is a tenor who must take the parts of Narrator (prologue), Faustus and Mephistophilis (pre-recorded). The chorus of spirits, who utter a variety of generally unvoiced sounds and choric effects, are pre-recorded. At different times these voices represent, variously, Faustus' mental state, his ambitions, his doubts, and so on, or else they may be sounds or wordless noises made by spirits - angels or devils, good or evil, encouraging or threatening Faustus.