Can you give background information about representation of “PURGATORIO” to understand the comments?
Answered by Edgar Froese
It was definitely a very strange premiere of this 2nd part. An invitation for a concert in the RFH was put on our table by a promoter in London in November 2003. We only got the information that is was a special cycle of performances with several representations of different artists specialized in modern music. No further details. We requested if they were interested in the premiere of the 2nd part of the Dante Cycle. The answer was an enthusiastic „Yes“. As we were getting a little bit under time pressure, we charged a good friend, who works with silent movies, with the details of the realization. Just to make a very long story short: We had planned to show a very old silent movie with the inferno contents of Dante as a backdrop in a silent Hollywood movie. In addition, theatrical effects should be used. When we came to the rehearsal in the RFH we couldn’t believe our eyes. A tiny screen fixed over the stage like a kleenex should be used to show the largest part of the visual program! In a big hurry the promoters arranged for a larger screen to be brought (still too small!) and for more light effects. We got another shock when we realized that we were on the Eather Festival, a festival for electronic, ambient, house, drum&bass and DJ performances. All that wouldn’t have been a problem if we had played the ordinary TD music, but it definitely was a problem with Purgatorio and opera songs. Last disaster: We wanted to fill the room with dry ice and fog. When we began, the theatre turned on the air condition at full power. Every small fog flag disappeared immediately in the pipes of the outlet. Even if we had been sitting naked on the stage, we couldn’t have felt more misplaced. A story that nobody knew before and that will certainly not happen again.
Share via Facebook
Share via Twitter
Share via WhatsApp