Language:
English
Pages:
XI, 310 Seiten
,
Ill.
Edition:
1. publ.
Year of publication:
2013
Keywords:
Theater
;
Jüdisches Theater
;
Drama
Abstract:
Jewish drama and theatre has followed a tortuous path from extreme rabbinical intolerance to eventual secular liberalism, with its openness to the heritages of both Judaism as a culture and prominent foreign cultures, to the extent of multicultural integration. No wonder, therefore, that since biblical times until the seventeenth century there are only examples of tangential theatre practices. This initial intolerance, shared by the Church, was rooted in pagan connotations of theatre rather than in the neutral nature of the theatre medium, capable of formulating and communicating contrasting thoughts. Whereas by the tenth century the Church understood that theatre could be harnessed to its own ends, Jewish theatre was only created seven centuries later through spontaneous and amateurish theatrical practices, such as the Yiddish purim-shpil and the purim-rabbi. Due to their carnivalesque and cathartic nature these practices were tolerated by the rabbinical establishment, albeit only during the Purim holiday. But as a result, Jewish drama and theatre were created and emerged despite rabbinical antagonism. Under the influence of the Jewish Enlightenment, Yiddish-speaking theatres were increasingly established, a trend that became central in the cultural enterprise of the Jews in Israel. This process involved a renewed use of Hebrew as a spoken language, and the transition from a profound religious identity to a secular Jewish one, characterised by a basic liberalism to the extent of openness to cultures traditionally perceived as archetypal enemies of Judaism. This book sets out to analyse play-scripts and performance-texts produced in the Israeli theatre in order to illustrate these trends, and concludes that only a liberal society can bring about the full realisation of theatres potentialities. Contents Introduction - Dramatic and theatrical creativity Part I Tangential Jewish drama 1 Jewish theatre and ritual origin 2. The book of Job as Greek tragedy 3 Ezekiel's "Exagoge" 4 The binding of Isaac in theatre 5 Fernando de Rojas' "La Celestina" 6 Felipe Godinez' "The Queen Esther" 7 Leone de' Sommi's "A comedy of betrothal" Part II Advent of Yiddish theatre 8 Adoption of theatre despite ritual 9 Sephardi roots of Jewish parody 10 The nature of carnival 11 The "purim-shpil" 12 The "purim"-rabbi 13 A tribute to Yiddish theatre 14 The languages of the Jews and Jewish theatre Part III The Jewish nature of Israeli theatre 15 Sacred narratives in secular contexts 16 Actualization in the Israeli theatre 17 Rina Yerushalmi's "Jephthah's daughter" 18 Sisera's mother and "The Trojan women" 19 Rina Yerushalmi's "Woyzeck 91" 20 Nissim Aloni's "The American princess" 21 Hanoch Levin's "Sufferings of Job"
Note:
Incl. bibliogr. references and index
URL:
http://www.sussex-academic.com/sa/titles/theatre_drama/Rozik-Jewish.htm
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