Dark Night of the Soul
Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London

THE FAUST myth is one which has long captivated. From Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, currently playing the Globe theatre, to Goethe’s Faust to Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita and on to David Mamet’s Faustus, many male writers have reinterpreted this myth for their own times and contexts.

Gertrude Stein’s Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights remains a notable female-penned exception. But Dark Night of the Soul, an anthology of short plays, seeks to redress that balance, with a group of female writers seeking answers to that apparently timeless question — what would you sell your soul for?

In five short pieces, the answers are complex and intriguing. What should a doctor do when a mistake leads to a lifetime of suffering? How do you protect your pregnant maid and your daughter? Do you keep the secrets of dying family members or do you tell your own truth, no matter what the cost?

Each question and each piece generate pulsating and urgent engagements with the world of today and nowhere is this more evident in the commitment to putting a diverse range of actors, writers and performance styles centre stage.

Jude Christian directs all the pieces with a remarkable control of tone and pace. There's a seamless transition from Pauline McLynn’s brilliant Dr Simon Forman offering us “general fingering tips” to Amanda Wilkin’s office worker admitting her complicity in a moment of sexual harassment.

Athena Stevens is ferocious as a young woman whose life has been shaped by another person’s mistake while the charismatic Lily Bevan's play The French Welcome is brilliantly funny and clever and Lisa Hammond and Rachael Spence are magical.

With this production, the Globe and the Sam Wanamaker continue a welcome dialogue between their more historically focused material and our contemporary world, as well as maintaining a thoughtful commitment to diversity.

Runs until February 1, box office: shakespearesglobe.com.