Inspired by the tale of Doctor Faustus, The Devil went Down to Parliament is a political satire about wealth, power and corruption. It tells the story of four ordinary people, Justice (Ade Ingram), Hope (Emma Garde), Charity (Ellen Benant) and Ernest (Eddie McLoughlin) whose lives are changed by Lucius (Finch Talbot-Ponsonby), a figure who claims to be working as a political advisor but who might be the devil himself. This new play has been written and directed by Lilly Ryan, and I thought that it perfectly balanced political satire with comedy and entertainment.
The staging of The Devil went Down to Parliament was fairly minimal overall, with fairly simple props being used to differentiate the scenes. This was effective because the cyclical nature of the play meant that we kept returning to similar scenes and locations throughout the performance. I particularly liked how a simple table and chairs with two coffee cups was used to represent a café several times during the play. In my opinion, the simple nature of the staging worked so well because it allowed the audience to focus more on the characters’ words and actions. Furthermore, I thought that lighting was used very well throughout the show and was effective in setting the right tone for certain scenes, especially for ones where there were little to no props used.
I thought that the standard of acting was high throughout the performance, however I was particularly impressed by Finch Talbot-Ponsonby’s performance as Lucius. One of the key features of his character was that he had to be able to convey lots of different roles and Talbot-Ponsonby did this so well that it was difficult at times to believe that the multiple faces of Lucius’ character were all being played by a single actor. I also really enjoyed Ellen Benant’s performance as Charity. She performed in such a way that Charity’s motivations for her actions were easy for the audience to see, which meant that her character came across as well-rounded and relatable to a certain extent.
Overall, I really enjoyed ‘The Devil Went Down to Parliament’ and I would recommend going to see it if you have a chance. Lilly Ryan has created a play where Doctor Faustus is perfectly mixed with contemporary pop culture references which make for an accessible performance – you definitely don’t need to have studied Marlowe’s text in order to understand and enjoy!
★ ★ ★ ★
