“The Mysterious Mr Faust” by Tenorman

A transcendental, humorously surreal and political musical theatre performance!

We have all felt that anxiety: time is running out. The gate is closing. We rush to make it—and it slams shut in our faces. The Germans have a word for it: Torschlusspanik. And that is where our performance begins. With laughter, a piano and a girl who has run away from the Prime Minister’s residence.

The Story

In present-day Greece—or whatever remains of it—three German friends arrive carrying their suitcases and their souls:

Faust, a doctor, magician and philosopher, is searching for eternal beauty. He finds it in a seedy bar in Exarchia, in the person of the beautiful Helen. What he does not know is that she is the daughter of the Greek Prime Minister, Jason Oraiou—and that she has run away from home.

Every branch of law enforcement takes to the streets. Helen is believed to have been abducted, while Faust, lost amid Molotov cocktails, tear gas and protest slogans, finds himself facing the Greek justice system—a recipe for laughter, terror and surrealism.

Mephistopheles, the Devil himself, who granted Faust youth and beauty, searches for his next victim in modern Greece. He is accompanied by Homunculus, a tiny creature kept inside a glass vessel and created by Faust.

For years, Homunculus knew everything but felt nothing. Until now. Reimagined as a form of contemporary Artificial Intelligence, he begins to wonder: Do I want to help make the world a better place—or conquer it?

They decide to begin with Greece: the centre of civilisation and the centre of chaos. They encounter a series of tragicomic situations drawn from the madness of everyday Greek life—in a country marked by crisis, corruption and half-knowledge, but also by extraordinary vitality. The Devil’s paradise.

At the same time, they must find a way to help Faust in his struggle against the forces of Greek law and order.

The Question

Will they manage to destroy the Earth? Or will Greece’s social pathologies—corruption, the thirst for power and the eternal promise that “we’ll work something out”—end up saving the planet?

The Performance

The performance is based on Faust: Part Two. Goethe wrote it around 1825, transported his three heroes to Greece and, through the figure of Homunculus, was already exploring the idea of artificial intelligence.

Using satirical language—sometimes in verse, sometimes not—unexpected plot twists and influences from the German cabaret tradition of Brecht and Weill, Giorgos Tziouvaras, aka Tenorman, the master of chaos and surrealism, takes the audience on a journey through the Greece of the past fifty years: a social, political and uproariously funny descent into chaos.

Why You Should See It

It is an interactive musical theatre performance. The audience does not simply sit and watch: it participates, takes on roles and becomes part of the story.
It combines rock, traditional Greek songs, opera and original music by Tenorman, together with outrageous humour and a noir atmosphere.
Featuring multilingual songs in German, Greek and English, as well as surreal stories, the performance becomes an original musical filled with unexpected twists.
Each performance features a well-known surprise guest appearing live on stage.

“Homunculus is not merely an alchemical fantasy. He embodies one of the defining questions of our time: What happens when the things we create begin to desire? When they begin to question? When they begin to feel?”

???? What They Say About Tenorman

“An artist with supernatural powers…”
Kathimerini

“Rock, pop, jazz and opera collide in this original cabaret.”
London Times

“A celebration of surrealism, with explosive music and unconventional theatricality.”
Corriere della Sera

“…Tenorman grabs the microphone with explosive energy and signals the beginning. This is something truly distinctive: from the very first seconds, he immersed us in the surrealism, humour and intensity that would define the performance…”
CultureNow, Greece