Adam Belvo as Caravaggio and Sara Florence Fellini as Artemisia Gentileschi in Moth and Flame. Photo AnthonyCollins.nyc.
Spit & Vigor’s Moth & Flame—FINAL WEEKEND, Friday and Saturday, April 20-21
Balcony Theater at the Center at West Park
165 W 86th Street, entrance on Amsterdam Ave.
New York, NY 10024
A full review of this remarkable two-person play will appear in May. Since the final performances take place this weekend, Friday, April 20th and Saturday, April 21st, I offer this very brief account to urge readers not to miss this fascinating experiment in parallel lives—the lives of artists, a category of humanity that Plutarch passed over. The lives of artists has only been a recognized genre since 1550, when Giorgio Vasari published the first edition of his Le vite de’ più excellent pittori, scultori e architettori. In this case Sara Florence Fellini has interwoven the lives of two Baroque painters—one might say “fabled” Baroque painters, since there has been so much contemporary fascination with their colorful lives—that of Artemisia Gentilieschi (Rome, 1593 – Naples 1654), because she was one of the few pre-1800 artists who were women; Caravaggio (Milan 1571 – Porto Ercole 1610)
because of his hot-tempered, violent nature, while led him afoul of the law as a murderer. For their lives we must look to the late 17th century writers, Baldinucci, van Mander, Mancini, Baglione, and Bellori.
The play is beautifully written, with some marvelous poetic flights, and splendidly acted by the author, Sara Florence Fellini and Adam Belvo. The energy and intensity of their acting is reason enough to see the play, but in addition there is the quality of the play itself.
Don’t miss it.
Sara Florence Fellini as Artemisia Gentileschi in Moth and Flame. Photos by AnthonyCollins.nyc.
