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There are great theatre shows on offer all year round at the King's Theatre and Festival Theatre, Edinburgh.

Limbo/Zarraberri

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Ros Sydney

Òran Mór, Glasgow, Mon 12 May–Sat 17 May

TRANSLATION

In the 14th century, Dante described limbo as the ‘first circle of hell’ in The Divine Comedy. This 800-year-old concept of limbo, in which unbaptised babies who die are said to be stuck between heaven and hell, has since been abolished by the Pope in 2007. Surely the church couldn’t have been mistaken all that time? Director Rosie Kellagher explains how her latest piece explores this concept. ‘The play looks at the anomalies in the way the church perceives certain versions of reality. It pokes fun at the whole idea of limbo in a very gentle way. It’s about a man who ends up in the office of the department of limbo. It eventually becomes apparent it’s not his paperwork being processed but his soul. Will he be sent to hell, heaven or limbo?’

Chris Nolan’s translation from Victor Iriarte’s Spanish text will be performed as a double bill with another Spanish comedy, Zarraberri, by Maite Perez Larumbe, which pokes fun at arts councils and insurance boards. These translations have been created specifically for Scottish audiences: ‘the translator has been very involved in the process. It’s about transferring cultural references and making it work for a Scottish audience.’

Limbo examines this highly moral issue in a humorous way. ‘Where we derive our morals from today is much more of a grey area, particularly with acknowledgments such as these from the Catholic church. Whilst it does touch on these serious issues it is a comedy and the audience should have fun.’

More: Chris Nolan, Limbo, Maite Perez Larumbe, Rosie Kellagher, Spanish, Translation, Zarraberri, Previews (Theatre)

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