Consumerism is the great capitalist lie which seduces people into believing that the more they have the happier they will be.

And when they have it all - the 'stuff' - then all that's left is the ultimate aphrodisiac, unlimited power...but that costs a few bob, a soul if you have one!

Four hundred years on from when Christopher Marlowe first penned Doctor Faustus, its warnings are as pertinent now as they ever were to the Elizabethans.

But, if the West Yorkshire Playhouse had not had the foresight to engage the services of Colin Teevan to freshen up Monsieur Marlowe's original script by replacing the controversial 'did he or did he not write' acts three and four with a modern take on the age-old Faustus myth, then director Dominic Hill might never have had the opportunity to wave his wand.

But Colin was engaged and Dominic's leading man, Kevin Trainor, waved his wand with all the dexterity of Harry Potter in this beautifully inventive and fresh adaption.

By allowing large chunks of Marlowe's original text to flow around the modern language of Teevan's additions, the play, in which Faustus sells his soul in return for unlimited magical powers and fame (he becomes a pretty nifty magician who even performs for the US President!) becomes more accessible, and that's fantastic.

No doubt there will be the dissenters - there was when opera introduced sub titles - but accessible theatre is to be applauded, and something that pushes the boundaries always runs the risk of stern criticism: in this instance, a great, daring production.

Faustus' live-for-today attitude as he sells his soul to Lucifer is so reminiscent of the 'I want it now' culture that permeates modern society, where credit is King, cars are street cred, and coffee culture is cool.

But there's a price to pay for all that 'stuff', and that's the salutary warning of Doctor Faustus. "I am a pit of nothingness," yells the leading man as Satan's right-hand woman, Mephistopheles, (Siobhan Redmond) urges her charge to think of the Devil and flee from all things Heavenly. "No amount of stuff can fill me up," he cries.

This collaboration between the Playhouse, Glasgow's Citizen Theatre, Dominic Hill, James Brining and writer Colin Teevan, talks, so effectively, to a modern audience. Well balanced and with a solid cast, it cleverly marries humour with very human issues.

It should be on the school syllabus because, right now, the politicians aren't working, but put society's waywards into the West Yorkshire Playhouse auditorium for a night, and we might start to cure society of its lust for all things material.

But just before you write me off as a raging Commie, just think back to the 1987 film, Wall Street, and its central character, infamous trader, Gordon Gekko:

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures, the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the U.S.A."

And Faustus wept.

Runs until March 16th 27th 7.30pm.