New play reimagines traditional story by Northern Ireland lens

What should you went to promote your soul to the satan solely to search out out you did not have one?

A brand new darkish comedy has arrived in Belfast that asks simply that, reimagining the traditional Faust legend with a distinctly Northern Irish chew.

In the unique story of Faust, a scholar makes a cope with the satan in change for limitless information and worldly pleasure.

But in Faust-ish, directed by Zoe Seaton at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, the traditional story is filtered by the lens of a politician within the Northern Ireland Assembly who tries the identical trick – and finds out what occurs whenever you break bread with the person downstairs.

The play stars Jo Donnelly within the position of Faith Hughes, the meeting member, and Chris Robinson in quite a lot of roles, together with the satan himself.

Speaking to BBC News NI, Seaton defined the pondering behind bringing the legendary story into 2025 and Northern Ireland, saying it partly has to do with “desensitisation and disconnection”.

“What is the way we’re living our modern lives doing to us as human beings?” she requested.

“One compromise is that you’re engaging on your phone with an atrocity and then you switch to puppies.”

This whiplash is seen by the politician – however Seaton is eager to say the play is “not about saying Northern Irish politicians don’t have souls”.

Instead, she places the give attention to what we will actually belief in fashionable instances.

“People talk about fake news – we don’t really know what’s real, what’s not. Theatre has a particular role to play because it’s live. You can touch it and you can feel it.”

Part fable, half farce, the play’s creators describe it as a mash-up of mischief, satire and craic.

One of the celebs, Chris Robinson, stated he questioned whether or not Lucifer was the play’s worst character.

“In our story, is he the most evil? I’m not sure,” he stated, including that the viewers is invited to query whether or not the politician’s decisions are extra damaging than being the satan.

“It is a good lens to look through because politicians as a whole go into that line of work to help people or to do good or to make a difference.

“And then it is in regards to the small selections, the small compromises they make that give away a bit little bit of themselves.”

Faust-ish is a different type of project for Seaton, who became known for hosting theatre performances via Zoom during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Another recent project, Granny Jackson’s Dead, which blended theatre and immersive technology, was performed in a house on the Malone Road. It went on to be named best production at the Origin 1st Irish Festival 2025.

“Every mission must be thrilling and for me it must be as completely different as potential from the final one,” she said. “We had huge enjoyable with Granny Jackson’s Dead, however that is very completely different.”

Next up, after Faust-ish, is an interactive theatre/film installation called Judy’s House which explores family dynamics.

But first she has to bounce with the satan, within the hope of sparking some attention-grabbing conversations in regards to the fashionable world in those that come see the brand new play.