Faust (The Broken Show)
by Eric Dyer
Prelude Festival at Collapsable Hole
West Village, Manhattan
Oct. 21, 2023
It is the basic rule of one-man-shows that production requirements be kept to a minimum. The general expectation is some form of monologue, accompanied only by a few props, and the possible threat of a costume change. If Eric Dyer’s preview performance of his Faust (The Broken Show) is any indication of what can be expected at the full show (Nov 2 – 19 at the Brick in Williamsburg), then audiences are in for a hectic journey to hell and back, all helmed by a single person in desperate need of a production crew.
Dyer bounces on and off the stage, adjusting lights, grabbing props, flipping records, and painting sigils for ritual purposes. Unlike in the traditional Faust narrative, no demon joins to offer aid, it’s all on Dyer — ‘out of luck, cigarettes, and love…’
This scattered stress is central to the piece’s affect. The story of man in search of absolute power, whether through magic, strength, or knowledge is made all the more poignant by the performer’s own lack of power over the environment of the performance itself. Not only does Dyer’s Faust call on Satan himself, but also attempts to enlist the likes of Bob Ross and Ram Dass. Even the audience is asked to give over their ego, by way of donning cardboard masks, to help him achieve his goal.
In lieu of conjuring the dark forces of the underworld, Dyer metastasizes a participatory meta-fiction, full of apology, goofs, and stutter all wrapped up in a never not-charming DIY aesthetic.
Dyer drags Faust from its usual high place — kept by the likes of Liszt, Goethe, Svankmajer, and Mernau — and runs it through ribald mud and cheap acrylic paint. There’s a certain type of justice done to the source material in this process. Herr Doktor of the western canon is too stuck in the Enlightenment, was never truly modernized (save through Thomas Mann), and the story can seem almost silly to a contemporary audience. Why quest for knowledge and power in the age of the internet, disinformation, scientism, and fake news? Knowledge has taught us nothing, and power only corrupts… Dyer’s spin on Faust’s plea against the impotence of the human condition? “I invite the devil in here to make me feel better. I deserve to feel better!’
Weaving thematic strands of aging, politics, and the difficulty of the artist life, Dyer’s performance was a part of the month-long Prelude Festival. The theater festival is dedicated to previewing the works of artists in NYC at the forefront of contemporary dance, theater, and multimedia performance. Catch the full show in November.
