Who doesn’t love a little Shakesp- I mean, Marlowe in the Park?
The Independent Shakespeare Company is known for staging two Shakespearean plays every summer, on a square concrete slab in Griffith Park (a short walk past the old abandoned zoo). It’s presented in-the-round with audience members bringing their own picnic blankets and claiming their own spots on the slopes to the sides.
Gorgeous place for a stage.
I missed their earlier production of Love’s Labour’s Lost, so I made it a point to see their second summer show: Doctor Faustus. And much to my luck, as an avid fan of wine drinking, the company teamed up with Silverlake Wine for one special night of devilish drinking before the show. This was the pre-show event they called “A Sip With The Devil.”
Adorned in a cloak and little horns, I arrived early with a friend and set up the picnic blanket in the very front. The wine tasting started a couple hours before the show, which is why we were able to get such good early seats – the hillsides fill up fast and full.
From the vantage point of the wine area, a little earlier, before it really started filling up.
The hills on the other side of the stage are a little less forgiving.
I’ve heard it’s not the easiest to get an alcohol-serving permit in Griffith Park, hence why this event was one-night-only (8/16/25) despite the play running for weeks. I’m a fan of Silverlake Wine; I had just been to the store a week ago and picked up a couple nice finds. It was great to see them serving pours out in nature.
Zebedeo, Wines of Anarchy, Moulin de Gassac Guilhem, and Campo Hermoso. All good, though was I wrong for expecting at least one would have a devil on the label?
The event took place in a roped-off section (for the alcohol) looking out over the stage and the park, including trees and rocks and the gully running under the platform. We got little gift-wrapped fruit cups and the like as well. Truth be told, there wasn’t much of an “event” here. I’m not sure what I expected, but perhaps a devil wandering around or a bit more of an elaborate showing-off of the wine. Still, it was good wine and a beautiful evening, so I’m hardly complaining.
By the time we had finished our wine, the hills were alive with hundreds and hundreds of people. I suppose they spread out more on picnic blankets than the same amount of people would if forced in theater seats, but still, turnout felt massive, and I was again thankful we had a reason to be so early. For future shows, I’m already making note – show up fast. Especially because the bathrooms are quite a hike too–a third of the way back to the parking lot. Plan accordingly.
As the skies grew darker, the show began. Someone came out–I believe it was director Melissa Chalsma–to explain the history of this stage, to introduce the show, and to welcome us all to a fantastic night.
The stars of the show were David Melville, who played a tormented and torturous Master Doctor Faustus, and Kalean Ung, who played a Mephistopheles with intense inner power and cunning. This pair filled the stage the majority of the night, and fill it they did indeed. Both had such massive presence, yet channeled in ways that were complimentary and endlessly interesting.
Melville was perfect as the stormy, emotional, brooding Faustus. Even when he was on top of the world with all the power he could dream of, Melville channeled a certain insecurity in the character, a constant need for validation, a small but defining weakness that of course is the root of his undoing.
There were no photos allowed during performances, but even during intermission, Melville’s Faustus stalked here and there offstage.
Meanwhile, Ung’s Mephistopheles was steady, sly, and perfectly stable, and looking at her, you could truly believe she was in possession of secret knowledge. Despite her role as Faustus’s servant for most of the action, her demeanor never let you forget who was really in control.
But these two didn’t hog the spotlight. The rest of the company each had multiple chances to shine, and they were all strong together. Most had 5-6 alternating roles to play.
The combination of Daniel DeYoung and Natalia Echeverria as a bad angel (DeYoung) vs. a good angel (Echeverria), and also as the stableboy (DeYoung) and scullery maid (Echeverria), was a complete win, and one of my favorite parts of the night. Echeverria especially had some scene-stealing moments as the good angel, which was also one of my favorite costumes.
Brent Charles’ Lucifer was wild and crazy, as if from a different time. The unpredictable, fluid body language Charles used to play the king of Hell was effective at making him appear threatening and otherworldly. Charles also played the Pope, which I hope was meant as commentary.
I also enjoyed Carene Rose Mekertichyan’s roles, especially Helen of Troy, who Mephistopheles conjures up at Faustus’s command. (As it happens, I’ve been reading some of the Classics lately and have had Helen on the mind – I forgot she was in this, and it was a pleasant little delight to have her pop up so out of place.) Mekertichyan was sleek and elegant, calm without being a bore.
Some of the 7 Deadly Sins taking a bow before intermission.
To entertain Faustus, the devils – the whole company – put on a rock n’ roll performance called the 7 Deadly Sins, where each sin got a chance to come and show off, all decked out in fully modern attire. I appreciated this in a meta sense – one can imagine Renaissance-era Faustus being shown strange glimpses of these future things by Lucifer without understanding them at all, and yet likely being gifted some sort of understanding through his demonic knowledge. The modern audience, contemporary with the Sins’ portrayals, see the Sins as both a modern break in a historic play, and also as strange and distant when viewed through the 16th-century eyes of the Faustus.
Would Doctor Faustus enjoy an electric guitar solo? Probably, yes.
Though if not, one can always picture Lucifer as Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly in the first Back to the Future: “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids are gonna love it.”
During intermission, I took a walk up the hill to the concession booth, where I nabbed a couple of these William Shakespeare face cookies – “Habey’s Shakes: The Bard of Shortbread” just for Indie Shakes. I have to tell you, they were delicious. We couldn’t get over how good these cookies were.
I also purchased a Doctor Faustus t-shirt featuring a Satanic Circle design that I love to wear out and about.
I could eat these tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow…
At night, the hillside looked like pure magic.
I would easily believe Titania’s fairies lived around here.
As the play picked back up again, there were a lot of great moments. Flying on a dragon was staged creatively with much of the cast helping out. Faustus had made antlers sprout from the head of Benvolio (Isaac Ybarra), and the knight plots and takes his revenge by chasing Faustus off-stage into the stone-filled gully, and brutally chopping his head off. Before Benvolio can celebrate for too long, though, Melville’s Faustus grimly rises, holding (a prop of) his own severed head in his hands. It was absolutely chilling.
Since the stage is fully exposed in the round, you could see the actors hanging around in the upper areas across all sides, walking this way and that, usually staying present to some degree as watchers. This only added to the magic for me. And when they would walk through the picnic blankets to descend upon the stage, starting their lines from the hills as they came into focus again, the whole environment felt alive.
Two of my favorite costumes – Carene Rose Mekertichyan as Helen of Troy (front right) and Natalia Echeverria as the good angel (behind Carene to the left).
In the end, of course, Faustus is incapable of repenting and must suffer his eternal doom. (Why’d he only wish for 24 years of power? Why not 240? Why not 2400??) The trapdoor in the center of the stage opens up into a red, smoking pit, and Faustus is pulled, then dragged, slowly, shriekingly, despairingly down, until his final cry is silenced and the door to Hell seals above him. The audience was silent as a stone for Melville’s dramatic end.
What a play! This was pure theater. I loved every minute of it. Polished and professional without being hammy or too-slick, it was real, moody, and raw. There is no way I’m missing either of their two shows next year.
Perfect energy.
Full Cast & Context
- Patrick Batiste: a spirit, Wagner, Greed, a Friar, Alexander the Great
- Brent Charles: a spirit, an academic, the Pope, a soldier, Lucifer
- Daniel DeYoung: a bad angel, Dick (a stableboy), Envy, the Duke of Saxony, the Duke of Vanholt
- Natalia Echeverria: a good angel, Robin (a scullery maid), Lust, the Paramour of Alexander the Great
- Carene Rose Mekertichyan: a spirit, a friar, Pride, Sloth, Frances (a woman in the Emperor of Germany’s court), Helen of Troy
- David Melville: Doctor Faustus
- Erick Valenzuela de Campos: a spirit, an academic, Gluttony, Archbishop of Rheims, the Emperor of Germany
- Kalean Ung: Mephistopheles
- Isaac Ybarra: a spirit, Valdes (a magician), Wrath, Benvolio (a knight), a friar, a student
I like it when they list out all the parts, rather than just saying “ensemble.”
I also like it when they have headshots with names on display.
The crew:
- Melissa Chalsma: Director
- Jihee Jenny Park: Stage Manager
- Yasamin Sarabipour: Costume Design
- Bosco Flanagan: Lighting Design
- Maya Channer: Scenic Design
- Dave Beukers & David Melville: Original Songs
- Dave Beukers: Sound Design
- Lexie Secrist: Assistant Stage Manager
- Chloe Pate: Sound Operator
- Sophia Wolfe & Aurelia Garlock: Faustus Head Design & Creation
- Gabby Bruno: Production Manager
- Philip Briggs: Master Carpenter
- Ricky Meza: House Manager
- Ella Espiritu: Assistant House Manager
- Hannah Davis: Special Events Producer
- Jack Fulkerson & Victor M. Frausto: Crew
- Astrid Peterson: LA County Dept. of Arts & Culture Intern
- Miles Manigault Vail: Occidental College Intern
- Amy Hecht: Special Events Intern
- Kevin Orellana: Master Electrician
- Illiana Cusack-Mercedes, Stephanie Sandler, Miro Vejnovic, Skye Kriloff: Electricians
The Independent Shakespeare Co, lovingly shortened to “Indie Shakes,” was founded in 1998 and started with Henry V in New York City. They relocated to LA in 2001 and partnered with the city to start Free Shakespeare in the Park, at first in Barnsdall Park, until the audience grew and grew and had to be relocated to the larger Griffith Park in 2010.
The founders of this company are none other than director Melissa Chalsma and star David Melville. As Chalsma states in the program, “together they have produced two children and one hundred and two theatrical works.” Now that’s an output.
Playwright Christopher Marlowe is often thought to have come before William Shakespeare, and it’s true that he kind of preceded the Bard. But Marlowe and Shakespeare were born in the same year (1564), likely just a couple months apart. However, Marlowe got to the London stage earlier and had a loud entrance with hits in the 1580s, especially Tamburlaine in 1587. And then, suddenly, Marlowe is murdered in 1593 (over a dinner bill disagreement brawl with a government agent, supposedly), while Shakespeare is just getting started, and writes for another 20-some years. This is why Marlowe is usually thought of as the “older influence” to Shakespeare despite the fact that they were the same age.
Marlowe was Cambridge-educated, and had a habit of pushing moral and religious boundaries, as he did plenty in Doctor Faustus. This play was written in the early 1590s and is based on earlier German legends, but Marlowe transformed them profoundly.
One last look at this wonderful stage.
Griffith Park is one of the largest urban parks in the US, and since it stretches across the Santa Monica Mountains, it feels like less of a park and more like the rugged wild. It comes from land donated to the city in 1896 by Griffith J. Griffith, back when rich people at least pretended to appear about caring for the public. There are a ton of different features and layers to it: the trails, the Observatory, the Greek Theatre, and the nearby Old Zoo.
This zoo operated in Griffith Park from the 1930s-60s, and when it moved, they left the enclosures behind to be absorbed into the landscape. Nowadays, you can walk right into the abandoned animal spaces and pretend you’re a polar bear in a too-small display case.
