Goethe's Faust

Faust is another kit designed and published in Germany that I purchased in England. The model is not a toy theater in the traditional sense, since there is only one scene and the figures are attached to the stage. Rather it is a diorama illustrating a scene from Goethe's two part closet drama.

In the scene, we see Heinrich Faust’s seduction of Margaret (nicknamed Gretchen). Holding a necklace, Gretchen appears to have discovered the chest of jewelry that Mephistopheles hid in her chamber on behalf of Faust.


Designed by Konstanze Kreuter the stage was published in 1995 by Kreuter Foto Kalender, a publisher of advent calendars.

Below a picture of the unassembled diorama that I found on Kreuter’s own website.


The scrolls of text that drape the stage are a common visual motif in the designer’s artwork. If you follow the above link, you can see some other paintings and model theaters by the artist, including productions of Hansel & Gretel and Casper & Consorten. My favorite detail of the Faust model is the stack of books backstage that includes both volumes of Goethe’s work. The two books can be seen standing upright in the lower right corner of the picture.

It is hard to glean any information from poor translations of German websites. Forgive me if it is a common name, but I suspect there is more than a passing connection between Konstanze Kreuter and Kreuter Foto Kalender. The only information I could find about a Konstanze Kreuter was a couple of German newspaper articles from the 1980’s that credited Kreuter as a theater designer. I am not sure if they are even the same person, and if you have more information please feel free to share it in the comment section.