Richard Stemp

RICHARD STEMP

Theatre

Dr Faustus
By Christopher Marlowe

The Marlowe Society
Arts Theatre, Cambridge, 12 - 16 March 1991
Directed by Clare Venables

By this stage I could have been at Drama School - I had places at two but no money to pay the fees - so I was doing whatever work I could, applying for acting jobs and auditioning as often as possible. It was a valuable experience to work with Clare Venables, and her vision of the play was exciting. The 'spiritual' characters were doubled. Marlowe writes for a 'good' and 'bad' angel - the different sides of Faust's conscience - but Mephostophilis and Lucifer were given a male and female side. I played Lucifer, alongside Emily Maitlis, with whom I shared a stylishly sophisticated 'pad' for most of the performance.

"Other aspects which please include the dual male-and-female playing of the roles of both Mephistophilis (Dominic Rowan and Ingrid Wassenaar) and Lucifer (Emily Maitlis and Richard Stemp). This works extremely well, in terms both of the way it depicts Faustus being pulled this way and that, and in the extra menace that two threatening voices can bring when he begins to reconsider his choice. All four give impressive performances."
— Cambridge Evening News, March 13, 1991

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