Arts Focus: Synetic Theater’s Innovative The Decameron is a Classical Response to COVID-19

This column is written and sponsored by Arlington Arts/Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development.

The COVID-19 pandemic has required almost every industry to reassess, revamp and reset.

This is especially true of the performing arts, historically predicated on both an artistic and economic transaction between artist and audience. As Arlington Arts has been documenting, Arlington’s cultural community has responded quickly and energetically.

Arlington’s Synetic Theater presents a digital adaptation of Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron, a collection of novellas written in Italy in response to The Black Plague of 1347-1351. For each day through July 20, short filmed vignettes were released in groups of three. All content will remain available to stream through the end of July. Watch at your own pace, with a range of affordable pay-what-you-can ticket options.

The Decameron is a collection of novellas that celebrates the human impulse to connect through storytelling in a time of despair and isolation. The book is structured as a collection of 100 tales told by a group of young people sheltering in a secluded villa just outside Florence to escape the epidemic. The tales the group tells each other in The Decameron range from life lessons and tongue-in-cheek commentary, to erotic and tragic love stories.

Have more questions? That’s understandable in this new paradigm, so Synetic has created a page of FAQ to guide you through this virtual theater experience. For tickets and information, visit the Synetic Theater website!