Dr. Faustus (1966)

Beginning Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1966, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton appeared onstage together in nine performances of Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus at the Oxford Playhouse in Oxford, England. Acting alongside the university undergraduate members of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, they had agreed to do the play without pay to benefit the Oxford University Theatre Appeal Fund, which was raising money for a new theatre and arts centre. They were also making good on a promise made to Richard’s former professor, Nevill Coghill, back in 1963. Coghill, who had given Richard his start in the theatre, would direct the play in his final year at Oxford. “Since he started me off I think I should finish him off,” quipped Richard.

Elizabeth made a special guest appearance in the non-speaking role of Faustus’s temptress, Helen of Troy. “I have never acted on stage before, so I’m starting the easy way,” she said. “It’s a marvellous opportunity.” It was “sort of like a giggle, really, for me to do”. Her costumes for the production were designed by Irene Sharaff.

The Burtons arrived in Oxford to great fanfare, with the BBC describing their presence in the ancient university town as a “dose of ‘knockout voltage’ glamour”. Needless to say, the week-long run was a sellout. There was a performance each day, with matinees held on the Wednesday and the Saturday. Tickets were only made available on the day of the performance.

“Say what you will, it is the presence of Elizabeth Taylor as Helen of Troy - as much as that of Richard Burton in the title role - that will make the Oxford University Dramatic Society’s production of Dr Faustus live in the memory,” wrote drama critic Don Chapman in the Oxford Mail. Asked about the critical response to his performance, Richard said: “As long as I feel (and I did) that the main body of my performance is right, I don’t worry too much about the notices. In fact I thought the ones I saw were quite good, considering that I’d only rehearsed for eight days. But I do think some people missed the point we were trying to make—about Faustus being a fussy, pompous scholar. They didn’t see the humour in the part. I deliberately played certain scenes for laughs, and the critics expected a great gaunt devil-man.”

“On behalf of the Curators of the University Theatre and of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, I would like to express our deep gratitude to Mr. Richard Burton and Miss Elizabeth Taylor for their unexampled generosity in suggesting and making possible the production of Dr. Faustus for the benefit of the University Theatre Appeal Fund. I would like to add the special gratitude felt by the cast and myself for the privilege of working with two such artists in a common cause” —Nevill Coghill

The undergraduates who appeared in the production would remember the Burtons’ graciousness, both on stage and off. “They took over a floor of The Randolph [hotel] where they would entertain every night, and that was great fun,” recalled Jackie Keirs (née Harvey), who choreographed Dr. Faustus and was also a dancer in the production.

The following year, Richard and Coghill would reassemble much of the same cast, including Elizabeth, reprising the role of Helen of Troy, for a screen adaptation of Faustus. In 1976, the Burton Taylor Studio, an annex to the Oxford Playhouse, where Elizabeth and Richard performed Dr. Faustus a decade earlier, finally opened, a testament to their generosity and a reminder of this legendary production.