Vi må snakke om Faust* (We need to talk about Faust)

At the website of The National Theatre the following, among other things, is written about Vi må snakke om Faust* (We need to talk about Faust):

"We need to talk about the uncomfortable: We need to talk about Faust. It is time to end it while it is all still fun and games. The patriarchy no longer has a role, and the same goes for Faust. As a historic-literary character, as a German national epic, and as a symbol. The man who had all the privilege and all the knowledge of the world, but who still wanted to die. What a cliché!

Even worse: He accepts a pact with the devil's messenger, Mephisto. His soul in exchange for all he could wish. Included a 14-year-old girl. This is no longer romantic and the search to cleanse in purity- this is paedophilia. And Faust is painfully aware. Times are changing.

The Icelandic director Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson has returned to Norway to shake up the dusty theatre conventions with his 'partner in crime', playwright Mikael Torfason. In the wake of #metoo, the two have selected Goethe's Faust; the very symbol of an outdated system, one that must be pulled out, roots and all, and replaced by something else. Something that doesn't keep women down and leads to suicide being the most important reason of death among men younger than 45."

SOURCES:

Import from the Scenekunst.no list of openings 11.12.2018

The National Theatre, 11.12.2018, www.nationaltheatret.no, https://www.nationaltheatret.no/forestillinger/faust/

*Not yet translated into the English. The title within parentheses is the Norwegian title's literal meaning.