Performing Arts

Inferno “Illusion Dance”, NoGravity Theatre (2021)

April 10, 2022 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

“Un’opera d’arte completamente insolita, sorprendente e fantasiosa; l’obiettivo richiesto è innegabilmente meravigliare ma, in più, lo spettacolo si basa interamente sui gesti del corpo e su un complesso macchinario privo di qualsiasi elemento virtuale o tecnologico; c’è solo la luce che si infiltra in diagonale su un nero permanente paragonabile ai fondali dei dipinti di Caravaggio” –Antonio Audino, NoGravity Theatre

Inferno is one of the shows presented by touring theatre/dance company NoGravity Theatre. View a post about another one of their shows, Divina Commedia, here.

For more information about the show and the company, visit their website here.

Divina Commedia “Illusion Dance”, NoGravity Theatre (2021)

April 10, 2022 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

“Sul palco, i ballerini si muovono volando dentro l’aria e creano figure irreali! Ispirazione per le feste del teatro barocco e attingendo alle possibilità tecnologiche attuali, Emiliano Pellisari, autore di questo spettacolo totale, è l’inventore di una singolare arte coreografica, al crocevia della magia, illusionismo e circo. I suoi ballerini, come liberati dalla gravità, fluttuano nell’aria al ritmo della musica che spazia dal rock al classico. Ispirato alle cantiche più famose di Dante, unisce Magritte ed Escher nel suo universo surrealista. Pellisari ci porta in un sogno ad occhi aperti, sbalorditivo per non dire bellezza pura.” –Anne-Catherine Sutermeister, NoGravity Theatre

Divina Commedia is one of the shows put on by touring, acrobatic theatre company NoGravity. For more information about the show and the production company, visit their website here.

See our other post featuring NoGravity and their adaptation of Dante’s Inferno here.

Three Palaces Festival

November 28, 2021 By Hannah Raisner, FSU '25

“The Three Palaces Festival, taking place between November 8 and 12, is online for a second time because coronavirus restrictions remain in place,” says artistic director Michelle Castelletti, a singer, composer and conductor known for her interdisciplinary approach to the arts.

Speaking about the theme of this year’s festival, Castelletti highlights that 2021 is the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death, and the 450th anniversary of Caravaggio’s birth.

Both have ties to Malta, with Caravaggio’s painting the Beheading of St John the Baptist commissioned for the Co-Cathedral of St John while Dante mentioned Malta in La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy).

“Although it’s true that we aren’t certain he meant this island rather than a place in Italy,” she continues. “We were keen to celebrate both these artistic geniuses.” –Esther Lafferty, Times of Malta, November 7, 2021

Babilonia Teatri

November 28, 2021 By Hannah Raisner, FSU '25

“Purgatorio è i nostri segreti e i nostri desideri.

È un sacco da box che oscilla sopra le nostre teste. Le sue oscillazioni ci sfiorano e ci accarezzano. Ci cullano e ci sbattono. Non sono oscillazioni regolari, né continue. Sono scosse come quelle della corrente alternata. Il pendolo ci ricorda che la nostra parabola non è infinita. Ogni attimo il tempo di oscillazione diventa sempre più breve fino alla stasi. Alla pace.

Purgatorio non mette in scena Dante ma ne sposa l’epica. Ci ricorda l’unicità di ogni vita e la sua grandezza. Di ogni vita che abita il palco mostra l’essenza per godere della sua necessaria irripetibilità.” –Babilonia Teatri

This theatrical piece will be discussed by scholar Sara Fontana in her contribution to the forthcoming volume Dante Alive.

NY Times Review: Dante’s Inferno Play, adapted/directed by Robert Scalan (1998)

October 16, 2021 By Harrison Betz, FSU '25

“Dante’s Inferno, a highly condensed and remarkably theatrical staged version of the 14th-century epic that takes Dante, played here by Bill Camp and guided by the poet Virgil (Reg E. Cathey), on a fantastic voyage into Hades. Mr. Willis and Leslie Beatty complete the cast, portraying an assortment of damned souls in this economical, two-hour production. And these two — how shall we put it? — have all the fun.

“Like more tormented versions of the sad sacks Dorothy collects on the yellow brick road, they confide their tales of woe to the visitor from another world. Mr. Willis and Ms. Beatty cringe and shudder, shrink and quake, affixing faces worthy of compassion to the teeming multitudes of the Underworld. As the acting opportunities pile up, the surprise of this Inferno becomes clear: even if it is not quite a fully realized verse play, it is much more than a staged reading.

“Mr. Scanlan and his designers, John Michael Deegan and Sarah G. Conly, transfer Dante’s hell to the late 20th century. Dressed in business clothes, the actors traverse a mirrored multilevel set that vaguely resembles one of those nondescript office buildings along the interstate (which are some esthetes’ idea of hell, anyway). As the story unfolds, so does the scenery, which is divided into compartments reached by ladders and stairs that denote the descending circles of hell.

“Dante’s Inferno reflects the poem’s episodic nature. It’s how skillfully Mr. Scanlan and his collaborators operate within the episodes that makes this an intriguing evening. Mr. Willis is especially rewarding in his myriad character roles, and on both the technical and interpretive level, all four actors speak with a grasp of the work’s power and lyricism. This is a piece that gets better the lower it goes.” [. . .] –Peter Marks, New York Times, September 28, 1998 (retrieved November 26, 2021)

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