Mozart once said in a letter to his father, 'An opera is sure of success when the plot is well worked out, the words written solely for the music and not shoved in here and there to suit some miserable rhyme....' I believe an opera is a visual art form combining both plot and music. Producing Faust has been an exciting experience for me working on the story line with the singers and trying to create a satisfying evening's entertainment for the audience. The castnd I together have explored the story and characters and are now ready to present our version of events in the life of Dr Faustus.

Dr Faustus was not a fictitious character, he was born in Germany in 1480 and studied divinity at Wittenberg. He was said to have been of 'naughty minde', boasting of his prowess in the magic arts, referring to the Devil as his brother-in-law. It is also thought he met regularly with a friend (Mephistopheles in our interpretation of the story) in Leipzig for a beer and a chat. Much has been written and numerous composers have taken this evil partnership as subject for composition with variations on the historical facts and characters.

The beginning of the opera finds Faust in the most miserable of situations - alone, and realising the onset of old age, having never experienced a happy youth and love. I imagine this friend to have been such a great influence on an already ailing Faustus as to have caused him to reach the verge of insanity, and at the very beginning of the opera Faust has fallen asleep at his desk and is entering his nightmare. His friend comes to him in his dream as Mephistopheles, presents him with the irresistible opportunity of exchanging his miserable existence for the return of his youth and the love of a beautiful woman, Margarita, by giving up his soul to the Devil. The other characters in the story being the means by which Mephistopheles contrives to capture Faust's soul for his master, the Devil. At the conclusion of the opera Faust awakens from his dreaming as Margarita dies and her soul rises to Heaven. Mephistopheles has failed to secure Faust's soul and, his power diminishing, crawls away from whence he came.

Before the curtain rises, I would like you now to remember the words of Lord Chesterfield, taken from a letter he wrote to his son in 1752, 'Whenever I go to an opera, I leave my sense and reason at the door with my half-guinea, and deliver myself up to my eyes and my ears.' I hope you enjoy the performance.

Judith Sawyer

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