The Oxford Faust Festival

If anyone is planning a trip to Oxford later this month, there is still time to see a couple of the events that are part of the Oxford Faust Festival. The story of the scholar who sells his soul to the devil Mephistopheles in exchange for secret knowledge had an important influence on many gothic writers. The world-famous Blackwell's bookshop is the stage for The Creation Theatre company's production of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus, with the demon Mephistopheles wandering among the bookshelves (www.creationtheatre.co.uk, tickets until Saturday 26th March). (Ford Maddox-Brown,