The Damnation of Faust

Whatsonstage.com“The theatre explodes with sights and sound...” With a surety of touch that belies his inexperience as a stage director, Gilliam frames the work in a concept that, while confounding all expectations, somehow fits perfectly and never feels imposed...

The Arts Desk“The show has now opened up to the vision Berlioz needs...” This "in paradisum" sung by a never-better ENO chorus and children's voices as a crowd of reverent onlookers giving some hope for a better future proves me wrong. Go and judge for yourselves whether this is an ENO risk that has paid off...

The Stage“Short on fire and brimstone...” Quite a lot of the rest looks inept or even amateurish. And the basic concept seems an application of highly-charged imagery to lend a specious sense of seriousness to something far flimsier...

The Telegraph“Dazzlingly beautiful and sometimes nightmarishly horrific... ” It might sound corny, clichéd and cheap, but such is the dramatic flair, filmic fluency and sheer inventiveness of Gilliam and his brilliant designer Hildegard Bechtler that the dream-like historical cavalcade...

Guardian“Breathtakingly imaginative and horrifyingly vivid...” The hazy dramatic boundaries, and the latitude for interpretation that Berlioz's recasting of the Faust legend allows, gives a maverick creativity like Gilliam's the freedom to flourish...

this is london“A visual spectacular...” Edward Gardner's handling of the score superbly catches its ethereal qualities, its inherent drama and its lyrical sweep. With his impressive opera debut Gilliam has saved the soul of ENO - at least for the time being...

Financial Times“Plays with the Faust legend without exhausting it...” Well, he does run riot – but far from desecrating the work, he ennobles it, offering a display of stage wizardry that remains true to Berlioz’s vision, even when it appears to contradict it...