Purgatory

by Ariel Dorfman

A powerful and poetic play, with echoes of Jean-Paul Sartre's  Huis Clos  and Euripides'  Medea . From the author of  Death and the Maiden . A Man and a Woman in purgatory – a soul-less white room. Each is interrogated in turn by the other. Each is groping for forgiveness and contrition. But one of them has done something unforgiveable... Ariel Dorfman's play  Purgatorio  was first performed at the Seattle Repertory Theatre, Seattle, USA, in November 2005. (An earlier version was first performed in a rehearsed reading at the Criterion Theatre, London, in November 2001). The play was first staged in the UK at the Arcola Theatre, London, in January 2008.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman is an Argentine-Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American Studies at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina since 1985.

Reviews

[Çağdaş T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yunan Mitolojisi'ndeki Medea karakterinin ölümünden sonra Araf'taki durumunu konu alan oyun.
Oyunu okumadan önce bence Medea'yla ilgili önbilgi gerekiyor.

[Ellie]

i just kept staring at the man and the woman thinking these two are irredeemable. do they know they’re irredeemable? i don’t know if they know they’re irredeemable. then i thought that’s too harsh, and it really isn’t for be to judge. perhaps almost irredeemable is more fair, given the setting. either way, it’ll take forever. yes. but that’s what they’ve got. for now.

[Sofia Natella · Rating 5 out of 5]

Impressive

[Fc O'neill]

2006- Play - 48pp
What is the worst thing a man could do a woman and what would be the worse thing a woman could do to a man? This script goes down that dark road, starting at the bitter end. The man and the woman are caught in purgatory after death. They are faced by an inquisitor who must bring the other to full realisation of what they have heinously perpetrated in life. Only with that acknowledgment can they move forward to the next step.

This play continues on themes first brought forward by Ariel Dorfman in his debut play DEATH AND THE MAIDEN. It looks at the cycle of blame, anger, hatred and retribution. The will to freedom from this lies not, one concludes, in independent choice but in an interdependent surrendering of resentment. Resentment is the sticking point before forgiveness and this is purgatory of the title.

[Tammy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, one act play. A take on Jason and Medea. Interesting.