Faust among equals

Goethe's Faust took the German poet and dramatist 64 years to complete from 1768 to 1832. It was published in 1832, the year of his death. It begins with a bet between Mephistopheles and God that he will be able to turn one of his servants, an intelligent scholar named Faust, over to evil. God agrees, believing that Faust will remain a loyal follower. The demon then tries to convince Faust to sell his soul in exchange for unlimited knowledge and pleasure.

"The play came to me when I was trying to slow down my acting career," says veteran actor Wang, 54, who is known for his roles in Chinese movies, such as Dying to Survive by director Wen Muye in 2017, and TV dramas, such as The Little Reunion by director Wang Jun in 2019.

"But I was tempted by it, not only because of the famous director, but also because of my longtime wish to return to theater performance," says Wang, adding that he started his acting career in 1989 by performing with Yunnan Drama Theater. "When I read the script of Faust, I didn't quite understand it. Even now, after the rehearsals, I still cannot understand it. It might take years or even the entirety of my life to explore everything the myth of Faust can teach me."

"I can still recall the first few days in Tel Aviv, when we rehearsed with the director, which was a process of looking for direction. The director, though battling cancer, was focused and tried to find ways to inspire us to think about the way we played the characters. It was an eye-opening experience for me, even though I have some experiences in movies and TV dramas," says Yin, 37.

In 2014, Yin played the leading character, a young rocker, in the Chinese movie Blue Sky Bones, which was the directorial debut of Cui Jian, known as the "godfather of Chinese rock music". Before launching his career as an actor, he was a dancer and choreographer.