Purgatorio at Metanoia Theatre

Purgatorio at Metanoia Theatre

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Posted 2016-04-17 by Mistress of Culture Vulturesfollow

Wed 13 Apr 2016 - Sat 23 Apr 2016

Last night I saw 'Purgatorio' presented by Unnatural Selection Entertainment at Metanoia Theatre at Brunswick Mechanics Institute. Book your tickets here


Purgatorio is written by Ariel Dorfman (1942) who was born in Argentina, and is known for his activism to end violence and torture, in How to Forgive Your Torturer and the play Death of a Maiden.

Purgatorio opens with poetic verse reminiscent of Dante Aligheri's Divine Comedy about the afterlife Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory) and Paradiso (Paradise). Dante's concept of Purgatorio is a waiting place where souls are purged of sin before entering the afterlife.


Directed by Tommy Lawton, the play opens in a pool of darkness with an enclosure set behind wire fences, sparsely furnished with a bed, chair and surveillance monitors. The space is open to many interpretations; detention centre, interrogation room, or a cell in a psychiatric ward.


Man (Paul Knox) interviews Woman (Hannah Vanderheide) about why she has entered Purgatorio. Woman is adamant that she does not know, but is aware that she is watched and monitored. Man continues his interview of Woman with the incentive that she may be able to leave Purgatorio is she admits to her crime.


Woman fights the allegations put to her by Man. Woman claims that the Medean style murder of her children and husband's lover is justified retribution for his unfaithfulness. Man uses emotional and psychological tactics to assist Woman to recall her trauma, and relive the moments of each crime, and admit her guilt, and determine her fate.


In the second phase of Purgatorio Man and Woman change roles. Woman becomes the psychologist and interviews Man who plays the murdered husband. The interview extracts why Man was unfaithful, and examines the relationship that drove his wife to murder his children and lover.


Dorfmann endows the audience with the role of 'observer' in the 'purging' process. We examine and empathise with both characters without judgement. Dorfmann questions whether God or an external 'Big Brother' determines our destination in the afterlife; or whether we determine our own fate in the afterlife, by our ability to accept the truth of our human history.

Produced by Adam Direen and Jorge Tsipos Purgatorio is based on classics from Greek Tragedy and medieval understandings of the afterlife. Purgatorio is highly relevant to contemporary life as we continue to see stories of violence and torture in our nightly news that hit close to home.

I highly recommend you see Purgatorio at the Brunswick Mechanics Institute this week. Although the play is 90 minutes of intense dialogue with no interval, you can take in drinks from the bar. Hopefully, that's longer than our waiting time in the afterlife.

#brunswick
#near_melbourne
#performing_arts
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#theatre
#theatres
#april
!date 13/04/2016 -- 23/04/2016
%wnmelbourne
212215 - 2023-06-16 06:43:43

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