Historical and modern definitions of the deadly sins

Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) was a Catholic layman who wrote "The Divine Comedy," which is really three epic poems in Italian: "Inferno," "Purgatorio," and "Paradiso," which are about Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven/Paradise, respectively. In "Purgatorio," Dante places each of the seven sins on a level, with the higher levels closer to Paradise and the lower ones closer to Hell. The numbers in parentheses, in the above table, indicate the level where they are found in "Purgatorio." Dante considers these sins as offenses against love, and groups them accordingly:

Perverted Love: Pride, Envy, Wrath/Anger;

Insufficient Love: Sloth;

Excessive Love of Earthly Goods: Avarice/Greed, Gluttony, Lust.

Deadly Sin	Opposing Virtue	Brief Description
Superbia (pride) Purple Emily	Humility	It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others, and excessive love of self. Dante's definition was "love of self perverted to hatred and contempt for one's neighbor."
Invidia (envy) Green Amelia	Love	Envy resents the good others receive or even might receive. Envy is almost indistinguishable from pride at times. Those who commit the sin of envy resent that another person has something they perceive themselves as lacking, and wish the other person to be deprived of it. Dante defined this as "a desire to deprive other men of theirs." Envy can be directly related to the Ten Commandments, specifically "Neither shall you desire... anything that belongs to your neighbor".
Ira (wrath) Red Terese	Kindness	Kindness means taking the tender approach, with patience and compassion. Anger is often our first reaction to the problems of others. Impatience with the faults of others is related to this. Wrath may be described as inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. Anger, in its purest form, presents with self-destructiveness, violence. Feelings of anger can manifest in different ways, including impatience, revenge, and vigilantism. Wrath is the only sin not necessarily associated with selfishness or self-interest (although one can of course be wrathful for selfish reasons, such as jealousy, closely related to the sin of envy). Dante described vengeance as "love of justice perverted to revenge and spite”.
Acedia (sloth) Turquoise/blue Belen	Zeal	Acedia is the neglect to take care of something that one should do. It is translated to apathetic listlessness; depression without joy. It is similar to melancholy, although acedia describes the behaviour, while melancholy suggests the emotion producing it. Dante refined this definition further, describing acedia as the failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind and all one's soul; to him it was the middle sin, the only one characterised by an absence or insufficiency of love.
Avaritia (greed) Yellow/orange Aneri	Generosity	Greed also known as avarice or covetousness is, like lust and gluttony, a sin of excess. However, greed is applied to a very excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of wealth, status, and power. In "Avarice" is more of a blanket term that can describe many other examples of greedy behavior. These include disloyalty, deliberate betrayal, or treason, especially for personal gain, for example through bribery. Scavenging and hoarding of materials or objects, theft and robbery, especially by means of violence, trickery, or manipulation of authority are all actions that may be inspired by greed.
Gula (gluttony) Light pink Ellen	Faith and Temperance	Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures and preserves this natural balance. This does not pertain only to food, but to entertainment and other legitimate goods, and even the company of others. Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste. Depending on the culture, it can be seen as either a vice or a sign of status. Where food is relatively scarce, being able to eat well might be something to take pride in. But in an area where food is routinely plentiful, it may be considered a sign of self-control to resist the temptation to over-indulge. Aquinas went so far as to prepare a list of six ways to commit gluttony, including: eating too soon, eating too expensively, eating too much, eating too eagerly, eating too daintily, and eating wildly.
Luxuria (lust) Pink Alzbeta	Self-control	Self control and self mastery prevent pleasure from killing the soul by suffocation. Legitimate pleasures are controlled in the same way an athlete's muscles are: for maximum efficiency without damage. Lust is the self-destructive drive for pleasure out of proportion to its worth. Sex, power, or image can be used well, but they tend to go out of control. Lust or lechery is usually thought of as excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature.

The script (MINI IP) - an adaptation from Lysistrata

Se7en

CAST:

Luxuria: Alzbeta

Invidia: Amelie

Superbia: Emily

Ira: Terese

Gula: Ellen

Avaritia: Aneri

Acedia: Belén

The Page: Anton

Luxuria, Superbia, Avaritia, and Acedia are sitting together, having some tea.

Set: Earthly Paradise (common room, swing, hammock, sofa, food – grapes, berry, juices, “wine” in wine cup -, antique table ..)

·         Luxuria is always seducing the Page every time he comes into the scene.

·         Invidia and Luxuria are constantly fighting (facial and body expressions).

·         Superbia always have something to say! She never lost her attitude!

·         Avaritia is constantly behaving like she wants more and more (she steals a lot)

·         Acedia is apathetic, her present is irrelevant. She doesn’t care about anything and she is negative about everything (notice it when she talks).

·         Ira is irrational, rude, mean, crazy!

·         Gula keeps on eating form the moment she enters in the scene, they are moment when nobody is eating, but she just keep on focusing on food!

MUSIC (while the actresses are entering in the stage): Lunatico, Gotan Project (until 0.40, after 0.45 lower, 0.49 music off). 

Luxuria: (Invidia comes into the stage)

Hello, Invidia.

Invidia: (correcting her pronunciation)

In-vi-dia.

Luxuria:

Whatever.

Invidia:

Good morning, Luxuria.

Luxuria:

Hey, what’s wrong? Frown like that will wrinkle your skin more than it is already now.

(The Page comes on stage, serving; Luxuria starts flirting with him)

Invidia:

Is sex all you can think of? How can you expect people to respect you if you keep acting like this?

Luxuria:

Whoa, girl. Just because I like to boink doesn’t mean I’m a bimbo.

Invidia:

I guess this is why people call you CUNT.

Luxuria:

Is this a negative word?

Listen:

I call it…

CUNT.

I really like it…

CUNT.

Just listen to it…

CUNT.

Tell me,

CUNT!

Say it!

CUNT!

Love that word

I can't stop saying it.

Ira: (enters on the stage, a little bit earlier)

Aahhh stop it!

YOU, you are dirty, your mouth is dirty, and your CUNT is dirty.

Is it ever possible that we can’t drink tea together without dishing dirt and talking trash?

Invidia:

Here comes Ira.

Luxuria:

Speak of the devil.

Ira:(to woman in audience)

You anorexic, bony-assed bitch! Slut! I’ll claw your eyes out if I catch you flirting with my man again.

Avaritia: (grabbing Ira by the hair and pulling her onstage).

Easy, Ira, she was looking at her guy.

Ira:

Bullshit, her eyes were on mine. I know these stuck-up rich bitches with their New Age sensitive males who couldn’t patch a hole in the roof if their lives depend on it – they pretend they’re so much better than us, but all they want is a real man like mine. Yeah, you crave it, don’t you?

Superbia:

Ira, you are late.

Ira:

Well, I’m here, aren’t I?

Superbia:

Are we supposed to thank you for making us wait?

Ira:

Oh, please, so shoot me.

Superbia:

It’s 963 B.C. Guns aren’t invented yet.

Ira:

Sorry, all right? Don’t have a cow. I couldn’t find my bra in the dark..

Luxuria:

In a strange bedroom.

Invidia:

You know all about strange bedrooms.

Acedia: (referring to Ira)

What’s that smell? The pulp mill or your perfume?

Ira:

Was that a joke?

Acedia:

No, but your hair is.

Superbia:

Please, you two, this is important.

Avaritia:

I can’t believe I’m still here, wasting my time listening to your senseless arguments.

Acedia:

Well, if it’s so important, go ahead and tell us – what? Of course there will be nothing to say.

Superbia:

If we don’t stop this war, it will be the end of civilization as we know it.

Acedia:

Which war are you talking about?

Superbia:

I have come up with a plan to put end to 5000 years of struggle and forever abolish war and the threat of global annihilation.

No more Sins. No more tension.

Acedia:

Sounds like we are going to fail.

Luxuria:

Wow. Sounds like fun. How do we do it?

Superbia:

For starters, I’ve invited a woman form Candyland.

Avaritia:

Candylanders? You’ve got to be kidding? They’re all like fundamentalists eating marshmallows all the time. They smell funny, their music is weird and their sense of style is seriously lacking.

Acedia:

Here they are now.

Invidia:

Oh, god.

(Gula enters in the stage)

Invidia:

Hello, Gula.

Gula:

Hello, Invidia.

Invidia:

In-vi-dia.

Gula:

In-vi-dia.

Luxuria:

You’re looking good.

Invidia:

Good? She’s a knock-out. Check out those quads and those gluts.

Acedia:

She does have a nice butt.

Avaritia: (she wants to posses also Gula’s body)

Nice! I wish I had half the body she does.

Gula:

I’ll give you my trainer’s number and he’ll set up a personalized fitness program for you.

Invidia:

I heard you are good eater in Candyland.

(to the audience, almost whispering) They eat too soon, too expensively, too daintily, too much, too eagerly and too wildly;

(to Gula) but you are not fat at all.

Luxuria:

Look at her tits. They don’t sag at all. Man, woman you are built.

Gula:

Go ahead, touch me if you like. I think women’s bodies are more beautiful than men’s, don’t you?

Invidia:

Lesbo.

Gula:

I’m not from Lesbos.

Superbia:

But I am. And proud of it.

Avaritia:

So who called this meeting and why all the top-secret stuff?

Superbia:

I did.

Acedia:

Nice waste of time.

Avaritia:

So what is it all about?

Acedia:

I think we can all agree if the war continues it will be the death of everything, all of life’s simple pleasures…

Luxuria:

Like sex.

(Enters The Page, Luxuria starts to seducing him)

Acedia:

Exactly.

Luxuria:

I haven’t had any in five months.

Invidia:

Really? It doesn’t seems so!

Gula:

It’s been seven months for me.

Ira:

Do you think I care? Do you think I care since how long you haven’t had sex?

I do not!

Acedia:

Yes, I agree with Ira. Why shouldn’t I continue to live in apathy and inactivity? Why should I get involved with a similar plan?

Avaritia:

The only reason why I am here, why I exist, is to possess more and more. If there is no more tension, no more Sins, what else could I possess?

Superbia: (talking to the audience)

I assure you, if you think you have a number one enemy, then it is your PRIDE and nothing else.

Invidia: (to audience)

But it is also your envy.

Ira: (to audience)

And your wrath.

Acedia: (to audience)

And your sloth.

Avaritia: (to audience)

And your greed.

Gula: (to audience)

And your gluttony.

Luxuria: (hanging on The Page and talking to audience)

And your lust.

MUSIC (actors still on stage): Gloria, Gotan Project (until 1.20, not more!).  THE END

I got it! The Pitch (MINI IP)

Friday, the 8^th of April 2011

Today is a beautiful day; finally the sun reached Victoria.

Weird! In the last two theatre classes I gradually lost my energy. I remember how exited I was about the idea I had for my Mini IP, The Story of a Man. In class we all presented our topic and since the class was over, I briefly and quickly presented my idea as well. The class reaction was neutral; nobody had any suggestion, advice or recommendation for me. I am not blaming somebody, but this made me sad. I was really convinced that they would have been a response to my proposal, but this did not happen.

Furthermore, until today, nobody asked me to help them realize their IP and this is disappointing as well, since I am really willing and available if somebody needs my help. I am aware of the fact that right now I might sound pessimistic, but (just like the second years IPs) sometimes I think that the reason why people are not involving me is because I am not really good onstage and on the production, after all.

Going back to my IP, I realize that a negative thing I did (and learn not to do again) is to rush. I rushed everything, even without knowing what specifically I had to do! (wrote my pitch really early, without knowing what exactly I had to do) Waste of time? I don’t think so; even if now I am not willing anymore to do “The Story of a Man” for my Mini IP, I can still use the material I wrote for another project.

By the end of the class, Mauricio asked me to be on his Mini IP, and even if I don’t know precisely what I might be doing, I am really excited and willing to help him.

Monday, the 11th of Afril 2011:

Today is the due for our pitch. I'm so confused. I really don't know what to submit to Libby; whether "The Story of a Man" or a new completly different story.

The point is that I'm lacking of immagination right now and the fact that I don't feel like performing my original idea makes me sad. It already 10pm and I really can't come out with an idea. 

Then, after walking around campus for 5 minutes and freezing part of my body, I got it.

Here is my Pitch! 

Septem Peccatis Mortalibus

The beauty of Dante’s Purgatory, the second part of the Divine Comedy - where Dante has to climb seven levels of suffering and spiritual growth, first drove me to the direction of associating my play with the Seven Deadly Sins. The poem outlines a theory that all sin arises from love – either perverted love directed toward others’ harm, or deficient love, or the disordered love of good things. It might be very sexiest, but as I read twice this last sentence, I thought about women. Seven young women are lying on an Earthly Paradise, performing a play about the Seven Deadly Sins (themselves), and providing an onstage microcosm of the theatrical situation. Each of the Sin will be wearing costumes that emphasize their personality and their malignity.  Everyday one of them will be introducing themselves; the stage, the light, the attention of the public will be there for each of them.  The last three days, their “evil thoughts” will be collected into three groups: The lustful appetite (Gula, Avaritia and Luxuria); Irascibility (Ira); and Intellect (Superbia, Acedia and Invidia). The only reason they have to get together is to decide which of the three naïve, docile and cunning page to persuade; Panfilo, Dioneo and Filostrato. These three young men are from Boccaccio’s The Decameron, and together with seven young women tell stories to pass the time; which is the same reason why the Sins are performing a play.

Even if the audience will be introduce to a play full of allegories, the irony and the adaptation to a contemporary setting, will not alienate them, but help them to enjoy better the play.

Words: 272

The following day, I had a chat with Libby; looking at the pitch from a practical point of view, we came out with different relevant elements that were lacking:

• the plot is not clear; they are three stories inside the play. This might be challenging and too difficult to realize in 10 minutes.
• the idea itself is very good, but it is more like something to do for the IP, rather than in 10 minutes.
• for now, I have to write the script by myself, which is something I'm not really willing to do considering the little time that I have.

 A solution? Try to adjust the Pitch! This is the result:

Se7en

The beauty of Dante’s Purgatory, the second part of the Divine Comedy - where Dante has to climb seven levels of suffering and spiritual growth, first drove me to the direction of associating my play with the Seven Deadly Sins. The poem outlines a theory that all sin arises from love – either perverted love directed toward others’ harm, or deficient love, or the disordered love of good things. It might sound really sexist, but as I read twice this last sentence, I thought about women. Seven young women are lying on an Earthly Paradise, trying to put an end to 5000 years of struggle and forever abolish war and the threat of global annihilation. The tension between the Seven Deadly Sins partly correspond also to the tension between the protagonists of Peter Anderson’s original adaptation of Lysistrata; a comic account of one woman’s extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War. In this adaptation emerges also a form of modern realistic theatre, sometimes with dramatic and comedic effect created by the transparency of the “fourth wall”.

The Sins are wearing costumes that emphasize their personality and their malignity. They are all sitting together and having some tea; the stage, the light, the attention of the public is focus on each of them.

Even if the audience is introduce to a play full of allegories, the irony and the adaptation to a contemporary setting, and the suspension of disbelief created sometimes between the play and the audience, will not alienate them, but allow them to enjoy the fiction as if they are observing real events.

Words: 263

The Story of a Man (MINI IP) ...

Theatre Year 37 Creative Assignment

The Story of a Man:

My play is about 5 different characters from all the different level of the society. They all don’t have a name, because they represent a category, such as The Lawyer in career, The Man, The Drag King, The Immigrant, The Rich Lady. The five different characters all have a strong personality, but the main character is The Man, who is the actor that connects all the other characters. In this scene, I will focus on bringing out part of the personality of The Man, a man who became schizophrenic after losing his job and seeing his wife and his daughter dying. He keeps on living the same daily life, pretending that his daughter is still with him and his wife is away for a conference. Sometimes he does live in the reality (not in this scene), abusing drugs as a solution to not face the question.

The Mini IP starts with all these five characters entering in the stage, but we don’t get to know anything about them, even their name. The scene focuses on The Man character, and one of his long monologues (in the call center) will be a big part of the IP. Another character that would be introduce in this scene is The Drag King, who works in the call center and “knows” The Man (sine he goes there every single day) and will introduce himself and his personality, slightly. The Drag King just likes to dress like a man on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. In these days he goes to work in the call center; while in the other days, when she is a woman, she stays at home and write about anything that fascinates her, she writes about people, the people she meets while walking back home, after her job, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The entire play (as I will discuss in the oral presentation) has a combination of theater styles, such as Traditional Shadow Puppetry and Body Shadow, Commedia dell’Arte (The Rich Lady), some (slightly) elements of Butoh and Naturalistic theater; following the rehearsal process of both Stanislavsky’s Method and B. Brecht “Defamiliarization Effect”.

In this particular scene, which could be considered as the preview of the whole play, the theater practice that emerges is Naturalistic Theater. The attempt is to create a perfect illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies; detailed and three-dimensional setting (a real door); everyday speech forms (the monologue of The Man and his dialogue with The Drag King); and an exclusive focus on subjects that are contemporary (actual global issues shown on the video; the main character himself reflects the issue of schizophrenic in the society, who lives without no support from the governments; all characters represents a category in the society); an extension of the social range of characters portrayed (far away from aristocrats, but working-class, homeless, or eventually bourgeois).

According to this form of theater and this specific scene, I choose to use a style of acting that attempts to recreate the impression of reality, which could be identified with the Stanislavsky’s Method. As a director, during the rehearsals for the scene, I will be using different elements from Stanislavsky’s Method (Magic if, motivation, objectives). Even if the scene itself is very short, and many rehearsals would not be necessary, I will still first focus on the actors’ mental preparations for their roles, and then on their physical performances on stage. I therefore hope to obtain as a result the union of a psychological and a physical involvement while the actors are performing.

Ø  Reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of your creation.

• I think the naturalistic ambient is really effective and, if I can figure out the set I have in my mind for this scene, it will be great.
• I love the idea of live music at the beginning and I’m so glad I find such a good and appropriate piece (thanks Beethoven).
• I think this is a play where I can easily apply some of Stanislavski and Brecht theories, defining well the two styles and obtaining great results.
• In the general idea of the play, the elements I get introduced to in Tim Goesley’s workshop, would make the difference and give a particular and lovely element to the play. (Contemporary Shadow Puppetry to express emotions)
• I could be able to emphasize more elements of Absurd Theatre (I would really like to) since already now they could be more irrational and illogical speech and to its ultimate conclusion, silence. It is true though that a godless universe, human existence has no meaning or purpose and therefore all communication breaks down, is not the main idea I want to express (just in some scenes).
• In the scenes of the play, I generally try to make irony (but I’m scared sometimes is not really functional). I have to work more on this element.
• In the scene I’m presenting for my MINI IP, I might be using a video (already made the video, but still thinking whether I should use it or not) with contains different imagines about what is going on in the world right now. Is a way to send a subliminal message, but if it is too inappropriate and awkward (sensitive), I will just forget about it. Talk with Libby, ask her opinion.
• The choice of using no names on this piece, but just generalizing categories (e.g. The Rich Lady) could be disadvantaging for me. By doing this a might give an inappropriate connotation/reputation to the category, which is not my major aim. I’m still thinking about it; if I have to choose, right now, I will keep my actual style. I will ask some advice from Libby.
• Sometimes the fact that it is obvious that I’m talking about a westernize country (I had Victoria in my mind when I was writing the piece) make me feel kind of incomplete. I wish I could have write a piece that could be set anywhere in the world.

Gugu