More than 400 years after Christopher Marlowe wrote his "Tragical History" of Dr Faustus, Make a Fuss Theatre Company showed that the tale of the title character’s bargain with the devil is still relevant in – and well-suited to – the digital era.

A hardworking, three-strong cast – Ben Dearden, Louise Grant and Ali Stoneman – took on all the play’s roles alternately, using simple props and costumes to indicate who was who.

A pair of geeky glasses adorned Faustus himself, while menacing devil’s associate Mephastophilis* wore an unnerving mask, and the play’s clowns danced inanely in fluorescent yellow caps and sunglasses. Faustus’s folly was informed by modern technology, with a laptop providing the “demonstrations magic” that beguiled him into selling his soul.

The secrets of the world were revealed with simple swipes of an iPad, cleverly hinting of the powers and dangers of information.

The trio accelerated through a punchy, abridged version of the text, never allowing the pace or energy to drop throughout the performance, which lasted for just over an hour. They made smart use of the small space – using their confinement to generate laughs – before turning up the intensity to finish on a devastating, desperate closing monologue.

*There are several variants of Mephastophilis. We're using the one that seems to appear most widely in relation to Marlowe's play, as opposed to the folkloric legend. Mephistopheles is another spelling.