Carnuntum festival opens Faust season with a manic prologue

Fischer's staging is built around a series of instalments that the festival intends to roll out across successive seasons. The decision to begin with Mephisto rather than with Faust himself is presented as a deliberate inversion: the devil sets the rules before the doctor arrives. Reviewers note that this framing lets the company reintroduce well-known scenes from Goethe's text without having to stage the entire tragedy in one evening.

A serial approach to Goethe

Horwitz, who has long been associated with Vienna's Festwochen audiences, plays Mephisto as a restless entertainer who keeps breaking the fourth wall. The role draws on the tradition of actors who treat the devil as a kind of theatrical showman, and reviewers draw an explicit comparison with Klaus Maria Brandauer's portrayal in István Szabó's 1981 film Mephisto. In that film, an actor compromises his art for political power; here, the devil's compromise is offered as a more general warning.

Goethe's text is used as scaffolding for a reading that extends well beyond the Romantic period. A lengthy critical passage reproduced in Austrian media quotes Mephisto's rebuke of the doctor on the "trüben Tag" in the "Feld," where Faust tries to blame the devil for what happened to Gretchen. The German original is reproduced in full: "Warum machst du Gemeinschaft mit uns, wenn du sie nicht durchführen kannst … Drangen wir uns dir auf, oder du dich uns?" The reviewer argues that this exchange fits "peinlich aufs Auge unserer Gegenwart," naming the present-day tendency to deny personal responsibility for choices made in collusion with outside forces.

Responsibility and temptation in the present tense

The same passage extends that argument into a broader cultural diagnosis. The critic writes of a "panischen Zurückweisung jeglicher Verantwortung," a panic-fuelled rejection of all responsibility, and of an "Omnipräsenz von Einflüsterungen," an omnipresence of whispered influences that can at times merge the whisperer with the one being led astray. The production, in this reading, is less interested in Faust as a historical character than in the patterns of seduction and self-deception that the figure continues to expose.

Staging choices support that emphasis. The Roman amphitheatre, with its long, shallow stage, allows Mephisto to drift in and out of the audience rather than remaining fixed at the footlights. Lighting design uses cold blues for the devil's monologues and warmer tones only when Gretchen's shadow is invoked, a visual shorthand that reviewers say keeps the focus on the act of tempting rather than on any particular victim.

Stage design and audience

The festival's broader programme, announced in advance by the Austrian Press Agency, pairs this Faust prologue with later instalments that will arrive in subsequent summers. Organisers describe the model as a long-form serial: each season adds another chapter, and audiences are invited to follow the build across years. The Carnuntum stage, which can hold several thousand spectators, is treated as a natural home for a project of this scale.

Reaction on the night was divided but engaged. Audiences accustomed to Fischer's text-driven productions praised the clarity of the prologue and the discipline of the verse speaking; others found the devil's manic energy exhausting and wanted more of Faust's own doubt. Local press noted a long standing ovation for Horwitz, whose name has become closely associated with the festival's flagship productions since his early Festwochen appearances in Vienna.

For a festival that bills itself as a summer meeting point between classical repertoire and contemporary audiences, the choice to lead with Mephisto is also a marketing decision. Goethe's devil is a recognisable figure outside specialist theatre circles, and the prologue form lowers the barrier for visitors who have not read the play. Festival organisers said they expected a mixed crowd of regular subscribers, school groups and summer tourists.

What comes next in Carnuntum

The next instalment of the Carnuntum Faust is scheduled for the 2027 season. No further casting has been confirmed; Fischer's team has indicated that the second evening will move closer to Faust himself, with the doctor appearing in his study before the compact is signed. Until then, the Roman amphitheatre will host its usual late-summer repertoire of opera and classical drama, with the Faust prologue running only on the opening weekend.

Critics' longer-term question is whether a serialised Faust can hold its audience across the years rather than across a single evening. The Carnuntum gamble is that Goethe's text, like the stone amphitheatre around it, is built for endurance. The first instalment's job, as Mephisto himself might put it, is to make sure the terms are clear before the rest of the bargain begins.