2008 Archives - Page 11 of 13

“Enchanted Stories: Chinese Shadow Theater in Shaanxi” at the China Institute in NYC

February 9, 2008 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“. . .One popular genre consists of scenarios of hell. An entire wall of the exhibition is devoted to a play called ‘The Twice-Visited Netherworld,’ a sort of Dante’s Inferno in which a scholar receives a special tour of the torturous ‘Yellow Springs’ described in Chinese folk religion. One startlingly vivid set piece shows a skeletal figure being boiled in oil (the punishment for blackmail and slander); in another, pierced and bloody bodies languish on Knife Mountain (home to those who have killed people or animals). As the legend of Emperor Wu of Han suggests, shadow theater has always had a powerful connection to the afterlife.” [. . .] –Karen Rosenberg, The New York Times, February 8, 2008

Romeo Castellucci’s “Divina Commedia” (2008)

February 3, 2008 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“On February 22, 2002, Romeo Castellucci was assigned the title ‘Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres’ by the Ministry of Culture of the French Republic in the person of Cathérine Tasca. In 2007 Romeo Castellucci was nominated ‘Artiste Associé’ by the artistic direction of the Festival d’Avignon for the 62nd edition in 2008. Here he presented the powerful trilogy Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy.
In 2010 Le Monde named the trilogy dedicated to the Divine Comedy the best play and one of the ten most influential cultural events in the world for the decade 2000-2010.” — Peak Performances