Devil's advocate

It begins with a bet between Mephistopheles and God that he will be able to turn one of his servants, an intelligent scholar named Faust, over to evil. God agrees and believes that Faust will remain a loyal follower. Then the demon tries to convince Faust to sell his soul in exchange for unlimited knowledge and pleasure.

"I've been thinking about turning Goethe's Faust into a play for about 10 years and now my dream is about to be fulfilled in China," says director Tuminas in Beijing during the launch event for the Chinese production. The play is due to premiere in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on Dec 6 and tour China widely until January 2020, visiting cities including Beijing, Xi'an in Shaanxi province and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

"Faust is a great tragic hero. Tragedies are powerful. I am intrigued by heroes who sacrifice themselves for a bigger goal, and usually those heroes are considered crazy," the director adds.