Sunday, November 14, 2010

HEAVY METAL

The character of Faust is based on the story by Goethe. The story was also conceived after reading the play all the way back in college. Over time, the themes have changed and deepened, but the constant element has always been a concern with the difficulties of trying to reconcile personal ambition and a desire for love with elements from a traumatic and painful past.


Faust is a powerful performer with a decidedly mixed character. He is equally capable of gentleness and tenderness as well as cruelty and bitterness. He loves life and at the same time, he is tortured by his past and he is sometimes very angry about that. He loves Susan but he's convinced that love is impossible for him because he can't trust and because he is self-destructive.


All this plays out against the backdrop of a heavy metal band on a fateful tour to try and regain lost glory. With his old friends Duncan and Toby and their new bassist Pandora (who is also involved in a relationship with Duncan), the band is traveling America in an attempt to take advantage of rock and roll nostalgia and make some money. Their tour isn't going very well though. They aren't filling the venues and their performances are mostly listless and uninspired recreations of things they did in the past. It's only after Faust's mother dies and he meets a preacher's daughter named Susan that things start to change for the group. Faust suddenly begins to find his energy and passion for rock again and the fans catch on and the while thing begins to take off. Of course, just when things are starting to pick up, Faust soon comes to realize that he is finally getting the benefits of a long ago pact with the titular Devil.

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