The spotlight disappears and with some intervening shuffle in the dark, the stage is made ready again; the lights swell, revealing Faustus’s study.

Mephistophiles is stage center and recites the narrative of this scene while others – including a farcical version of himself – appear to act out what he narrates.

***

Music excerpt is

Paganini: Caprice #24 In A Minor, Op. 1

from the album Paganini: 24 Caprices, Op. 1

Itzhak Perlman, Violinist.

Image is a still from the 1979 remake

of the silent classic movie Nosferatu

by Werner Herzog.