by Hugh Hunter

"Doctor Faustus" (1593), now running at Quintessence in Mt. Airy, is as lavish a staging as you will ever see. The play by Christopher Marlowe was the first to dramatize the legendary medieval scholar who sold his soul to the Devil.

As Faustus, Gregory Isaac never falters in his fine bearing and elocution. But Marlowe's character does not affect you like Mephistopheles, the servant of Lucifer. Played splendidly by Josh Carpenter, you cannot take your eyes off this endearing demon.

Whether dressed in a motorcycle jacket, priestly robes or suit with bowler hat, the demon is always sizing up Faustus with devilish relish, figuring out how to reel in this fish. He hooks Faustus into selling his soul in return for 24 years of absolute freedom.

Paradoxically, Mephistopheles is more of a Renaissance Man than Faustus! He argues that Hell is just "the absence of God," an application of Platonic ideas about evil much in favor with the new Anglican Church and at Marlowe's Cambridge.

Early on, Faustus wavers and asks for God's mercy. This leads Lucifer (expressively played by John Basiulis) to rush back onto the scene and intoxicate Faustus with the Seven Deadly Sins. When the deal is set in stone, director Alexander Burns is free to speed up the pace.

The play turns into a bacchanalian party! Dramatic lighting (Brian Sidney Bembridge) and percussive sound fill the set.  The stage becomes a sort of giant jack-in-the-box with colorful smoke and trap doors. Fantastical people pop up everywhere. Supporting actors sport a bewildering array of eye-catching costumes to play multiple roles (costumes, Jane Casanave/Chris Lione).

Draped only in vines, handsome Angels both Good and Bad urge Faustus on (Alan Brincks, Leigha Kato). With his fiendish pal, Faustus races around the world. He plays practical jokes on a comically distraught Pope Adrian IV (Sean Close), brings ancient heroes to life at German courts, compels a doubting knight to grow horns, conjures up Helen of Troy to be his concubine, et al.

Finally, the doleful midnight church bells toll, and Lucifer claims his due. And you wonder, how is it possible Faust could not grasp the contradiction between his licentious love of freedom and his willingness to hand himself over to eternal servitude?

The play "Faust" by Goethe, the 18th century Renaissance Man, offers an interesting contrast. Here too the doctor makes a devil's bargain but only out of  love for supreme knowledge. God awards Faust entrance to heaven because he aspired to love something greater than himself.

Perhaps to Marlowe's own surprise, his play turns into a medieval morality tale. Those fierce demons with matted hair do not condemn Faustus to "absence of God" but drag him screaming down through a smoky trap door to the torments of Hell.

Quintessence is located at 7137 Germantown Ave. "Doctor Faustus" will run in repertory with Shaw's "Saint Joan" through April 24. Reservations available at 215-987-4450.