Dante meets Bharatanatyain this experimental theatre performance at Ranga Shankara
The Hindu
Italian theatre director Anna Dora Dorno talks about her project ‘Dante Beyond Borders’
Italy was among the initial sufferers of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than the numbers, the sights of overwhelmed hospitals, health workers in hazmat outfits, and patients in oxygen masks, alarmed the rest of the world. Anna Dora Dorno, a theatre artist, realised what was unfolding in her country and the rest of the world was a significant moment in human history. She felt an urge, even a need, to talk about something that was so conspicuous to her: absence.
Anna felt absence on different levels. Due to the lockdown, she was absent from the stage. People were physically absent from each other’s lives due to the physical distancing measures. Then, there was the permanent absence caused by death.
With the Instabili Vaganti Theatre Company, which she founded in 2004, Anna wanted to explore this dark yet timely theme. To guide her in this exploration was a poet who lived in Italy seven centuries ago: Dante Alighieri.