Philippe Klaus’ Down Down Lucifer tells the tale of Lucifer, a fallen angel who wants to be God. He intends to stage a coup by collecting enough souls to overthrow Heaven – the only problem is, how? Down Down Lucifer is a clever, enthralling representation of the traditional devil myth.

In his opening monologue, Klaus let his voice project through the theatre. With each word powerfully enunciated, he immediately captivated the audience. Thus beginning to unravel the trials of Lucifer and his determination to become God. The show was dark, blasphemous, a little macabre, and inappropriately humorous.

Klaus displayed a real talent for simultaneously fascinating and manipulating his audience, without them being too conscious of the latter. He portrayed a version of Lucifer that was blunt, crude, and subtly cunning – a form that would entertain but quickly transgress into one of enormous rage, ego, and desire-mongering. In doing so, he caused the spectators to reaffirm their original notions of a malicious and almost deranged devil.

His stage held only a few props: a signage board, a pillow, a stool, and red heels. Klaus utilised them all effectively and in a way that heightened the emotion of the scenes. The story jumped backwards through time to show each of Lucifer’s (failed) attempts to denounce God in the eyes of his followers, and tempt them into his evil regime. It was interesting to hear Lucifer’s personal interpretation of well-known biblical tales and how he portrayed the additional religious figures. It made the viewers think about what they had been conditioned to understand about the stories in the bible as Klaus emphasised that most of them were dependent on context.

Although the narrative was relatively straightforward, there was an assumption that it would be told in chronological – rather than non-linear – order . This made the development of events slightly confusing as frequently one scene, set in modern times, would be interrupted with a memory of past events. Similarly, some scenes appeared to be unnecessary, unrelated to the the story, or a little too odd. Mostly, however, the way each scene was designed did contribute to the plot in its own way.

Down Down Lucifer gives a very unique perspective into Lucifer’s perception of his portrayal in past and modern culture, and how he views himself. It is disarming, intelligent, sacrilegious, thoroughly entertaining, and well executed.