Performing Religion on the Secular Stage

Description

This book examines the relations between Western religion, secularism, and modern theater and performance. Sharon Aronson-Lehavi posits that the ongoing cultural power of religious texts, icons, and ideas on the one hand and the artistic freedom enabled by secularism and avant-garde experimentalism on the other, has led theatre artists throughout the twentieth century to create a uniquely modern theatrical hybrid–theater performances that simultaneously re-inscribe and grapple with religion and religious performativity. The book compares this phenomenon with medieval forms of religious theater and offers deep and original analyses of significant contemporary works ranging from plays and performances by August Strindberg, Hugo Ball (Dada), Jerzy Grotowski, and Hanoch Levin, to those created by Adrienne Kennedy, Rina Yerushalmi, Deb Margolin, Milo Rau, and Sarah Ruhl. The book analyzes a new and original historiography of a uniquely modern theatrical phenomenon, a study that is of high importance considering the reemergence of religion in contemporary culture and politics. Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Figures Acknowledgements Introduction Notes 1. Modern Scriptural Theater and the Performativity of Anachronism The Performativity of Anachronism and the Concept of "Liveness" in Late Medieval Theater Simultaneity and Anachronism in Hugo Ball's A Nativity Play. Bruitist (1916) Tradition and Revision in the Twenty-First Century Oberammergau Passion Play Anachronism and the Cyclicality of Myth and History in Rina Yerushalmi's Bible Project Conclusion Notes 2. "Who shall be Christ?" Between Sacrificial Figure and Social Victim Playing the Crucifixion in Late Medieval Theater Sacrificial Figures and Social Victims Performing the Self, Performing the Icon, Performing the Other Conclusion Notes 3. Encountering Absence in the Theater The Visit to the "Cemetery of the Tribes": Jerzy Grotowski and Akropolis Walking in the Dark "Between a Person and Another": Interpersonal Encounters in Deb Margolin's Theater and Performance Conclusion Notes Conclusion Appendix: English Translation of Hugo Ball, A Nativity Play. Bruitist (1916), Ein Krippenspiel, Bruitist (1916) A Nativity Play. Bruitist 1. Silent Night 2. The Stable 3. The Appearance of the Angel and the Star 4. The Annunciation 5. The Visit of the Three Kings/Magi 6. Arrival at the Stable 7. The Prophecy Nativity Play Notes Bibliography Index