Faustroll (theatre score) with David Downes and Joe Bleakely

In 2009, Lumina Productions submitted a proposal to the Smash Palace Fund Selection Panel for Phase One of its project Faustroll.  The project is intended to result in a dramatic production – a theatrical odyssey through some fundamental concepts in modern physics.  The show has a number of levels:

1. the story of Faustroll and his companions, as they undergo a series of adventures and journey from one island to another;
2. spectacular displays of light, water and strange phenomena, that lead us to question what we see, while we share in the fun and excitement;
3. an insight into our understanding of the fundamental nature the universe that has been developed through the 20th century.

Two performances of a pilot presentation of The Extraordinary Adventures of Doctor Faustroll and His Search for the Luminiferous Aether, were given at Stage A at Stone Street Studios in Miramar on 4 March 2010.

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Extract

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FAUSTROLL

Act 1, Scene 1 – IN THE BEGINNING...

The audience enters a dark and mysterious auditorium; an indistinguishable background noise fills the emptiness, the audience unaware of the sound.

They take their seats, but it seems nothing is there – no stage, no curtains, no lights, nothing... until...

The ambient noise drops, the dim house lights fade away to pitch black darkness...

the audience experience perfect emptiness...

a pregnant nothingness...

an expectant canvas of space...

From this epic darkness, a faint hum builds... slowly... steadily... filling the space...

The sound begins to accelerate, building in intensity and power, the audience feeling the exhilaration of this intense atmosphere –

WHOOM! The space fills with a blaze of light as the sound reaches a massive crescendo! Flashes radiate throughout the space stunning the audience with their brilliance. As their eyes adjust, sparkling glowing particles of light are revealed filling and floating around the auditorium, heads are turned this way and that as they take in the breadth of the experience – it is as if they are witnessing the birth of the Universe!

As the chaos and light diminish, a 19th century laboratory is revealed. Dr Faustroll sits stunned beside his startled pet baboon, Bosse-de-Nage.

FAUSTROLL:
Well... that wasn’t quite the result I expected...

A dazed Bosse-de-Nage nods, promptly collapsing onto his side.

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