The second half descends into Doctor Who-esque educational time-travelling adventures. Johanna witnesses the Great Fire of London, meets the first woman in Britain to qualify as a physician and surgeon in the 19 th century, squabbles with Pierre and Marie Curie, and – on a quest to discover immortality – joins the digital revolution. There’s an overt feminist slant, voiced in wry lines like “If you knew the lives we women lead, you’d understand the Devil is a catch”, in Johanna raging about the centuries it takes for equality to inch along, or questioning whether marriage and motherhood detract from Marie Curie’s work and individual status as a brilliant scientist. When researching the look and feel Francesca wants to bring to a production, she says she works with visual imagery more than words, and for Faustus she has explored ideas of physical theatre and contemporary dance, along with body art.

Despite its darkness, it’s very hopeful. It’s about legacy, it’s about living in a fearless way and facing deathThe flipside to this is that – like ‘Doctor Who’– it’s awork of entertainmentextremely aware of its status as escapism. But its intrinsic frivolity somewhat undermines the efforts Bush has gone to to make Faustus a more serious figure. READ MORE: Thousands line the streets to enjoy welcome return of Chester Pride after a two-year break

In my new play, my Faustus is a young woman in 17th-century London, the daughter of a plague doctor father and a herbalist mother who was tried and killed as a witch when Faustus was a girl. She’s grown up with a mistrust of organised religion and a fascination with the occult, and exists on the fringes of society. She has no wealth and little agency. By the time she meets Lucifer she knows the risks but sees his offer as the least bad option available to her. As she tells him:

Cast

Her apothecary father (Barnaby Power) wants her to collect leeches, not herbal remedies – and to be married off, too (“tethered”). But she thirsts for knowledge about her mother, so firstly conjures Mephistopheles (a prowling, lordly Danny Lee Wynter) then boldly demands to meet his boss, who appears in the likeness of her father. Supported by a strong ensemble, they use movement and dance, developed with Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, to portray brutal killings and iconic moments in history which was essential for moving the story forward. The character of Mephistopheles, who is bound to Faustus, is played by a different member of the cast throughout the play as they are able to change their form and appearance due to being a fallen angel of Lucifer. This gives each of the ensemble cast the opportunity to portray the character in their unique way, whilst also having coherent characteristics. Dzey Z Smith is a particular stand out for their portrayal of Mephistopheles in the way they expressed their sinister misogynistic treatment of woman in their attempts to summon the devil. Based on the play by infamous playwright Christopher Marlowe and adapted by one of the UK’s most in-demand play writers Chris Bush, Storyhouse Chester is the new home for this reimagining of a classic tale, Faustus: The Damned Woman. As she re-writes her own personal history and that of women generally, it's like a combination of Dr. Who's ability to travel across time and Christopher Marlowe's (whose 1592 version of the story is still one of its most famous). The play opens at a time of plague when women are still being executed as witches. Emerging from this vindictive age is Johanna Faustus, grieving the loss of her mother to such a degree that she begs for the opportunity to sacrifice her soul to Lucifer for the remote opportunity of being reunited with her mother in Hell.

However, the production is definitely saved by a vivid stage design and an energetic and talented cast who throw themselves into the story wholeheartedly and deliver an enjoyable and thought-provoking performance. The character arc she has to pull off, written with such clarity and focus by Bush, is nothing short of miraculous for this is a story which doesn’t just span years but centuries and millennia. Each taking on the role of the ever present devil Mephistopheles, along with other roles, the ensemble cast are, quite simply, excellent. There is nothing more pleasing than watching an ensemble so in tune with one another, in their interpretation of the movement produced in collaboration with Fallen Angels Dance Theatre, and throughout the production. In one scene, Dzey Z Smith and Miriam O’Brien both puppeteer the body of Pierre Curie. It’s a real standout moment of the show, a skilfully executed performance and testament to what a truly collaborative performance can produce. It is splendid to rethink this and other classic stories with a complex female anti-hero. But Johanna is never allowed moments of intimacy which would warm us towards her. Her most interesting bond is with Mephistopheles. When asked about her relationship with men, she replies, in one of the play’s well-placed comic moments, “It’s complicated.” So, I guess it provokes questions of a woman’s place in society, how we treat women, and today as well, not just through history."Francesca explains. “They’re like women who tried but have been persecuted. So, they’re there, existing on stage, willing the next woman to do it, which is the actress playing Faustus that night. This scene, as well as many others throughout the play, held up a shining mirror to oneself forcing us to look inwards at the sins we may be unwittingly fulfilling. Faustus has suffered all her life. Exhausted by her humanity, trapped inside the limits of her morality, and continuously having been tortured by the demons of her past In her excellent new book The Faust Legend, which gives a critical overview of the many iterations of the Faust story, Sara Munson Deats provides a damning gender-count. “All of the avatars treated in this study,” she notes, “with the exception of Yeats’s Countess Cathleen and Wedekind’s Franziska are male.”

Chris Bush's devilishly provocative play Faustus: That Damned Woman is inspired by the works of Marlowe, Goethe and other versions of the Faust myth – and explores what women must sacrifice to achieve greatness, and the legacies that are left behind. However, I felt this was a successful decision by director Francesca, as it added an ethereal, otherworldly appearance to the character leaving me wonder - is there a devil in everyone? The sheer quality of this version of the famous story deserves to turn it into the definitive version for the 21st century because I, for one, would consider selling my soul for the chance to see it again. That said, the Faust myth endures because it is universal, and I don’t think any of that changes with this new retelling. It’s still the same story of vaulting ambition, hubris and exceptionalism, of what we’re prepared to sacrifice to achieve greatness, of the tantalising thought that, despite all the evidence, we might finally be the one to outsmart the devil. None of this is lost by having a female Faustus, although hopefully it brings into focus the way in which women are still punished for their ambition in a way men often aren’t.

Once gaining her powers from Lucifer, Johanna’s concern turns to the welfare of her father during The Great Plague. However, her demands that Mephistopheles cure him of illness results in the demon causing the fire in which Faustus Senior perishes. Considering Johanna was willing to bargain her soul due to the grief at the loss of her mother, the loss of Daddy Faustus seems to not overly bother her, as she seeks an opportunity to zip forward in time and straighten out a few issues. Every bit of this production is going into this woman’s psyche and seeing how she can use her skill and intelligence, and it’s how she navigates the obstacles in every time zone that she’s in Be careful what you wish for is the tag line of this astonishing reimagining of the classic tale about someone who sells their soul to the devil. Inspired by a human connection with the four elements, Good Teeth design team have created a timeless setting. With tree roots bursting from the ceiling, as if under the earth, this could be hell. As Mephistopheles states in Marlowe’s interpretation ‘all places shall be hell, that are not heaven’. Dripping water, flaming walls, at any time we could be by a river, in a mansion, on the heath, but never far away from the eternal presence of hell and Mephistopheles. Resident/Assistant Director Credits include: Driving Miss Daisy (Theatre Royal Bath/Tour); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Gielgud Theatre); The White Devil and The Roaring Girl (RSC Swan); Hope Light and Nowhere (Edinburgh Underbelly); A Christmas Carol (New Vic Theatre); Lady Windermere’s Fan; Miss Julie; The Gatekeeper; Beautiful Thing; Good (Royal Exchange); and Othello (Rose Bankside).