What happens when a poet and an artist find silent screams in a tale told by wispy drawings on old sheets of parchment? In this case, they teamed up to create the Cavity of Depravity, a 3-in-1 interactive multimedia program: the dramatic presentation synchronized to calligraphic text from the Dorothy L. Sayers translation, with notes and specially designed maps, and the drawings of Sandro Botticelli.
The Cavity relates human love in all its failings - unmasked - no hiding or glossing over weaknesses and dark spots. It is the first of three realms comprising the Universe, mapped, step by step, by the great poet Dante Alighieri. Walk with him through all the ways love goes astray and pushes us out ever farther from its life-giving Source to remote outposts of desolate, frozen isolation.
Trace the poet's vision with scene by scene illustrations from one of the finest Masters of figure drawing, Sandro Botticelli. Great care was taken to preserve the integrity of the drawings to give you as near an experience of the actual work as possible.
Thrill to Voices of the Dead: illicit lovers drifting on a black wind, the suicide turned into a thorn tree, a warrior troubadour holding his severed head up like a lantern for fomenting discord. Fans of the Firesign Theater will need no introduction to David Ossman, who played the guide Virgil. If you shook to the phone voice in the movie Scream, you may recognize Roger Jackson, as Dante. Kristina Holland as Beatrice and the late Sidney Walker as Ulysses round out the cast who, with the percussion of ethnomusicologist Peter Maund, bring the many voices of the Cavity to life. Enjoy the sample tracks here.
Dorothy L. Sayers, the creator of the Lord Peter Wimsey mystery series, brought her special sizzle and sparkle to her translation of Dante's epic. She and Dante had a lot in common: a search for and delight in the interconnectedness of things and the ability to deliver riveting tales.
Whether you are a Dante faithful or a newcomer, you will find hours of entertainment, pleasure and study packed in this CD-ROM, thoughtfully designed to engage every learning modality, whether singly or in unison, according to your preference. More information about the program features may be found at www.cavityofdepravity.com
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