Theatre company So it goes has just started a run at the Barons Court Theatre with Dante’s Divine Comedy, showing until 30 September. It was my first time visiting this theatre, which is small but has very good acoustics and provides great intimacy. Somehow, the audience feels it is watching something hidden, unique, and the space also fits very well with Dante Alighieri’s epic poem taking us through inferno, purgatory and heaven, hopefully to find his true love Beatrice as well as himself.
The stage’s back wall is lit by the image of a broken screen as the audience enters, and during the show, it often becomes to background for Dante’s ascent during his quest, showing shadows of terrifying creatures and elements gone wild (played as a magnificent ensemble of five female actresses). I very much enjoyed the use of lighting and the animations by Matthew Kirke and Douglas Baker, which gave me a cave-like feeling and truly took me to where Dante was. One of the last kaleidoscopic moving images of Dante’s face was particularly strong.
