Theater – Page 12

Roberto Benigni, “TuttoDante” in the US

May 25, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“…Next week he will begin a short North American tour of TuttoDante, a monologue about Dante’s Divine Comedy that mixes literary insights with off-the-cuff political jokes. In Italy, where he has been doing the show regularly for three years, it has drawn more than a million people.” [. . .] –Ben Sisario, The New York Times, May 22, 2009

Contributed by Pamela Montanaro

“For the record, the Italian actor Roberto Benigni does not believe that New Yorkers are going to Hell. ‘I hope they go to Paradise, every one of them,’ he said last Thursday, in the back seat of a taxi, blinking against the swish and roar of traffic. But that might be because he thinks it’s a journey the city’s residents have already made. ‘This is the beginning of Hell,’ he said. ‘The deeper we go, the greater the range of utterances of grief and fury we will hear. Different colors of people. Slang! Obscenity! Curses! Sighs! Keening!’ He paused while a van blasted its air horn. ‘This is really the sound of Hell,’ he said. ‘But we need to pass through the Inferno to reach Paradise.'” [. . .] –Stephan Faris, The New Yorker, June 1, 2009

Contributed by Patrick Molloy

Yale Cabaret, “Funny as Hell” (2009)

April 30, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“Dante’s Divine Comedy is a staple of the so-called western canon. Aged and distinguished–though mostly just age–like fine wine and pungent cheese, it’s the classic man’s classic. Roughly seven centuries later (incidentally, a divine number of completion), Russell Taylor, Brian Dambacher DRA ’11 and Dave Dambacher breathe new life into the familiar narrative with their collaborative creation, ‘Funny as Hell’… a baptism under fire.
Directed by Dambacher and Taylor, ‘Funny as Hell’ goes up this weekend at the Yale Cabaret. It features Taylor, Darlene McCullough and Ryan Hales DRA ’11. And in keeping with themes of the afterlife, this particular version marks the piece’s third reincarnation.” –Nicholle Manners, Yale Daily News, January 16, 2009

Contributed by Patrick Molloy

Walt McGough, Dante Dies!! And Then Things Get Weird (2008)

April 30, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“Seven hundred years ago, Dante Alighieri began writing one of the world’s most compelling and imaginative texts. This June, we respectfully screw it all up.

“Sideshow Theatre proudly presents the world premiere of Dante Dies!! (and then things get weird), a new play by Walt McGough oh-so-loosely based on Mr. Alighieri’s Inferno. Partway along the journey of his life, Dante finds himself mourning a lost love, feeling morose and, for some reason, in Hell. Trying to find his way home, he encounters incredible suffering, infernal bureaucracy, some sins of his own, and the aggressive attention of a competitive hot dog eater. Each step downward brings him closer to a personal reckoning with his own story, and maybe a chance to find an answer or two. Enacting the story single-handedly, versatile performer Matt Fletcher brings over fifteen different characters to life as he tracks Dante’s progress through the nine circles of Hell in this unexpected and epic adventure.” — Sideshow Theatre

Contributed by Patrick Molloy

“A Mexican Tradition Runs on Pageantry and Faith”

April 12, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“The Passion Play in Iztapalapa, Mexico, has a cast of thousands. The 50 or so main parts tend to remain within local families… The Roman Catholic Church’s attitude toward the play has fluctuated over the years. In the past, there were complaints that the script, which draws not only on the Bible but also on Dante’s Divine Comedy, deviated too much from sacred texts.” [. . .] –Larry Rohter, The New York Times, April 11, 2009

Synetic Theater, “Dante,” Washington, D.C. (2009)

February 19, 2009 By Professor Arielle Saiber

“In an unprecedented, ambitious production, Synetic Theater takes on the entirety of Dante Alighieri’s epic masterpiece, the tale of a lost traveler’s visionary journey through the torments of Hell and up the slopes of Purgatory, before the final attainment of redemption and Paradise. Delving into the core of Dante’s original work, this modern retelling will bring the Italian classic to life in a way never seen before.” —Italian Cultural Institute

Contributed by Aisha Woodward (Bowdoin, ’08)

Roberto Benigni, “TuttoDante” in the US

Yale Cabaret, “Funny as Hell” (2009)

Walt McGough, Dante Dies!! And Then Things Get Weird (2008)

“A Mexican Tradition Runs on Pageantry and Faith”

Synetic Theater, “Dante,” Washington, D.C. (2009)

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