The Journey

By Alessandra Raed and David Baikie

The Journey is a theatre play inspired by some of the concepts of The Divine Comedy, which is a long narrative poem written by Italian poet Dante Alighieri in the early 1300. The poem has an imaginative vision of the afterlife, and describes Dante's travels through the three places: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, while allegorically the poem represents the soul's journey towards God. The poem is also a representation of the medieval Western world view of Christianity. The conception of the poem also helped the development of the Western Church in the 14th Century.
The Journey follows a personal journey through the afterlife lived by David Baikie, an Australian war veteran who hit the bottom of suicidal depression in his early 30s. Using the structure of the poem, the play is also divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, and underlines David’s fears, emptiness, distress and suicidal thoughts during his time in the Army, and the recognition of the worst time of his life, just after leaving the Army, due to his illness. The message of the play serves to show awareness to suicide and depression, and the horrible feelings and thoughts that go along with it and that affect most people in our contemporary world. Our culture is haunted by the unholy ghost of suicide; the ones who surrender are mercilessly judged by society, and those who don’t are at risk of contagion. How, then, do we help those on the edge of self-destruction? Through theatre. The human spirit is magnificently resilient. Choice is a signature of our species. We choose to live, and sometimes we choose to die, but most times we make choices just to prove choice is possible. Looking at suicide through theatre, and accepting there is a choice, it is a good choice.
In Dante's work, Virgil, the Roman poet who takes Dante through his journey, is presented as the human reason. Beatrice, Dante’s ideal woman, is presented as the divine knowledge. In the play, the leading role of Dante is played by David Baikie, who had recently discovered theatre as an art form of surviving and a life-changing experience. Virgil still symbolises the reason who constantly checks on Dante’s thoughts, showing him what he would have found on his way out of this life, if he actually had left earlier. Beatrice, in the play, represents the true love, an almost spiritual sense of love that has not much to do with the love as we know it, but the love that is higher than our consciousness can possibly reach.
The Divine Comedy tells Dante's journey through the three realms of the dead. Virgil guides Dante through Hell and Purgatory, and Beatrice guides him through Heaven. Beatrice was a Florentine woman Dante had met in childhood. He admired her from afar in a courteous love tradition way.
In The Journey, Dante/David walks the dark road of hell, recognizes the sacrifice and lessons of Purgatory, and finally, in Paradise, he understands the reason we all are - and must be - alive in our own time. That surrounded by love and small acts of everyday heroism towards other people, we can actually choose to survive the darkness and to find light.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Dec 30, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664102309

Alessandra Raed

Alessandra Raed is a Brazilian journalist, creative writer, actress, director and drama teacher. She lives in Australia with her daughter Isabella who was the inspiration for Alessandra’s first published kids book Naughty Nana in 2016 (1st ed). She has published its sequel Naughty Nana and the old House around the corner in 2019 (1st ed), and a third book Noise – a collections of short stories and poems set in Rio de Janeiro also in 2019 (1st ed). Papers: Essays and Articles in Drama and Literature is Alessandra’s fourth published book. Back in Brazil, in early 2000, Alessandra completed Degrees in Journalism and Theatre Studies. In 2017, Alessandra completed Associate Degree of Creative Writing via Southern Cross University, Australia. She is on her way to completing Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education in 2021 with majors in Drama and English. Alessandra is the founder and director of Starlettes Dance Theatre Australia that offers drama classes, rehearsals, and stage productions in the Far North area of New South Wales. In creative writing, Alessandra won third prize in 2016 Fusion Poetry Competition at Australia Southern Cross University with her poem ‘Hummus and Herbs’ about family of immigrants, and won second prize with the same poem at Wilda Morris Poetry Challenge 2017. Her creative writing works have appeared on the American literary magazines, Anti-Heroin Chic, The Borfski Press, Basil O’Flaherty, Academy of the Heart and Mind, Tiny Spoon, Event Horizon and Comstock Review. In India, she has poems published on the OPA Anthology of Contemporary Women’s Poetry. In Australia, her works have appeared on Northerly Magazine. Some of her published works found online are under her previous married name Salisbury.

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 by Alessandra Raed and David Baikie.

ISBN:        Softcover         978-1-6641-0230-9

                  eBook             978-1-6641-0230-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 11/24/2020

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CONTENTS

Summary

The Three Parts Of The Afterlife

Act 1: Inferno

Scene 1 – The Dark Road. Limbo

Scene 2 – The Entrance In Hell

Scene 3: Meeting Lucifer

Scene 4: Greed

Scene 5: Gluttony

Scene 6: Wrath

Scene 7: Lust

Scene 8: Fraud

Act 2: Purgatory

Scene 9: Entering The Mountain Purgatory

Scene 10: Pride And Humility

Scene 11: Sloth And Diligence

Scene 12: Vice And Kindness

Act 3: Paradise

Scene 13: Meeting Lea

Scene 14: James Crossing

Playwrights: Alessandra Raed and David Baikie

Autobiographical storyline and poem: David Baikie

Dramaturgy and artistic direction: Alessandra Raed

SUMMARY

The Journey is a theatre play inspired by some of the concepts of The Divine Comedy, which is a long narrative poem written by Italian poet Dante Alighieri in the early 1300. The poem has an imaginative vision of the afterlife, and describes Dante’s travels through the three places: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, while allegorically the poem represents the soul’s journey towards God. The poem is also a representation of the medieval Western world view of Christianity. The conception of the poem also helped the development of the Western Church in the 14th Century.

The Journey follows a personal journey through the afterlife lived by David Baikie, an Australian war veteran who hit the bottom of suicidal depression in his early 30s. Using the structure of the poem, the play is also divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatory and Paradise, and underlines David’s fears, emptiness, distress and suicidal thoughts during his time in the Army, and the recognition of the worst time of his life, just after leaving the Army, due to his illness. The message of the play serves to show awareness to suicide and depression, and the horrible feelings and thoughts that go along with it and that affect most people in our contemporary world. Our culture is haunted by the unholy ghost of suicide; the ones who surrender are mercilessly judged by society, and those who don’t are at risk of contagion. How, then, do we help those on the edge of self-destruction? Through theatre. The human spirit is magnificently resilient. Choice is a signature of our species. We choose to live, and sometimes we choose to die, but most times we make choices just to prove choice is possible. Looking at suicide through theatre, and accepting there is a choice, it is a good choice.

In Dante’s work, Virgil, the Roman poet who takes Dante through his journey, is presented as the human reason. Beatrice, Dante’s ideal woman, is presented as the divine knowledge. In the play, the leading role of Dante is played by David Baikie, who had recently discovered theatre as an art form of surviving and a life-changing experience. Virgil still symbolises the reason who constantly checks on Dante’s thoughts, showing him what he would have found on his way out of this life, if he actually had left earlier. Beatrice, in the play, represents the true love, an almost spiritual sense of love that has not much to do with the love as we know it, but the love that is higher than our consciousness can possibly reach.

The Divine Comedy tells Dante’s journey through the three realms of the dead. Virgil guides Dante through Hell and Purgatory, and Beatrice guides him through Heaven. Beatrice was a Florentine woman Dante had met in childhood. He admired her from afar in a courteous love tradition way.

In The Journey, Dante/David walks the dark road of hell, recognizes the sacrifice and lessons of