The Faustus Project
★★★★☆ Anarchic
Underbelly Cowgate, (Venue 61): Mon 17 – Sun 30 Aug 2026
Review by Sarah Barnard
The Faustus Project at Underbelly, Cowgate sees another parade of guest performers make their deals with the devil in this fiendish set-up from Half Trick Theatre.
Scottish/Kiwi Half Trick Theatre have proven themselves incredibly agile and adept at staging exciting experimental theatre. Christopher Marlowe’s Elizabethan tragedy “Doctor Faustus” is the jumping-off point for this tricksy piece.
The Faustus Project cast. Pic: Half Trick.
The Faustus Project puts a different actor through their paces each night as the title character, with monologues in blank verse proving the least of the brave guest performers’ problems. They have never rehearsed with the rest of the cast before – which might not be so daunting if the cast had any intentions of playing nice.
Foreknowledge of the play will only get them so far. Nothing will adequately prepare them – or the uninitiated among the audience – for the evening of twists and challenges ahead.
Tonight, Faustus is played by Rachel E Thorn, who is admirably game for everything the cast throw her way and gets in some witty impromptu asides of her own. The show follows Faustus literally from birth to death, and along the way unsavoury shots are gulped, Pope hats are flung, custard pies are slung… to say too much would be to spoil the surprise for the next victim, but suffice to say Faustus ends the show appropriately tormented.
chaotic imagination
James Jennifer Wright’s design supports the chaotic imagination of the ensemble by leaving them plenty of blank space and props to play with. And what an ensemble… Courtney Bassett, Alex Medland and Moira Hamilton writhe and contort, improvise and emote, and somehow deliver Marlowe’s text with conviction no matter how ludicrous the situation becomes.
Bassett is a particularly memorable Helen of Troy and presides over proceedings with command. Caden Scott, who also directs, is a hilariously arch Mephistopheles. Even the audience member (selected by Thorn as her “favourite person in the audience”), puts in a creditable performance in their pivotal role at the end of the play. The seamless integration of this and other moments of audience participation speak to a well-honed company with a confident grasp of their material.
If you can stomach the ritual humiliation, it would be worth seeing the show more than once, as the world of the Faustus Project is carefully choreographed to revolve around the guest performer, in all their choices and bargains – tomorrow night, the metaphorical curtain will rise on a fresh new Faustus, ready to make the fateful deal and sign their life away for an hour of Fringe frivolity.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
Underbelly, Cowgate (Belly Laugh), 66 Cowgate, EH1 1JR (Venue 61).
Monday 17 – Sunday 30 August 2026.
Daily: 9.05pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
HalfTrick website: halftrick.com/
Facebook: @HalfTrickTheatre
Instagram: @halftricktheatre
Linktree: @halftrick.
ENDS
