Inferno Sonata

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Inferno Sonata doesn't seem to be getting the recognition that it deserves. I rank it as one of my top shows, because it's interesting and passionate and highly theatrical. And I like theatre that is theatrical.

It's an engaging script about August Strindberg desperately and sometimes madly trying to read the signs around him, to learn the secrets of changing base metals into gold and of purifying the human heart.

Good subject matter and good script, but there was one aspect of the presentation that didn't work for me. The Strindberg character sometimes took on a smarmy attitude, sucking up to the audience, as it were. Maybe this was an attempt to sugar-coat the darker side of the play, or to achieve a lightness, but I think that straight-ahead Strindberg heaven and hell would be better.

In spite of that caveat, I say that anyone interested in ideas, art, or theatre should take in one of the final performances.

A phantasmagorical roller coaster of a ride. Set in the late 1800s, a time when recent discoveries in science collided with a desire for the supernatural - think Poe, Baudelaire, Rimbaud - this play will appeal to individuals who appreciate exquisite staging and sound design, as well as superb acting and storyline.

Completely transports the audience as the main character descends into madness.

What is truth, what is reality, what is theatre? asks Strindberg.

Highly recommended intellectual theatre.