Votre Faust (De)

by Henri Pousseur and Michel Butor

Casting >>

A work in progress and Basel Theatre production
Supported by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes

‘Votre Faust' is a 1969 variable opera by Henri Pousseur and Michel Butor. ‘Variable’ means that the story as well as the music are made anew every night: the audience decides what will be the protagonists’ fate and the direction the music will take. The set design locatesthe play in a funfair, whereall the stalls are real: a betting office for people to take a punt on the play’s possible endings, a fighting game, a brothel, a cider fountain decorated with bronze chicks... At stake is the audience’s real money, their real bodies and their real souls. The play gives the audience responsibilities —towards their own requirement of entertainment, towards the actors on stage. ‘Votre Faust’ is no narrative figure, but rather a reflection of the audience present on any particular evening.