Chichester's staging of Christopher Marlowe's play - starring Samuel West as the questing student who sells his soul to the devil for knowledge and Michael Feast as Mephistopheles, with support from a community cast as devils, angels, kings, queens and ordinary townsfolk - is a devilishly good idea. Particularly as only the initial pact takes place in the Minerva theatre; the rest of the show spills out into the streets of Chichester, culminating in gorgeous masque-like stagings in the cathedral cloisters and payback time in the nave.
There are plenty of marvellous moments, and West and Feast are first class. But although the promenade staging through the town is fun - you encounter covetousness outside the Abbey National ATM, and gluttony, pride and envy in the shopping area - as an experience of Marlowe's Dr Faustus, it is not always completely satisfactory. I reckon that anyone unfamiliar with the play wouldn't know what on earth was going on.
The failings are less to do with the creative ideas and more to do with simple logistics. It is often hard to see and hear well; the stewarding is cheerful but not always helpful. It makes the evening seem meandering and diffuse.
Things perk up considerably once we get to the cathedral, where the raising of the dead heroes is done with spooky ingenuity. The cloisters and nave make natural stages, and the nooks and crannies of Chichester are used magnificently, with the good and evil angels popping up in the most unexpected places. This may in many ways be a failure, but it's a heroic one.
· Until September 25. Box office: 01243 781312.
