Unbridled
Subtitle: studying religion in performance
By: William Robert
Series: Class 200: New Studies in Religion; Class 200, new studies in religion
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2022
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Number of pages: 164
ISBN-13: 9780226816890
Subjects: Religion and drama; Religion et théâtre; RELIGION / General; Equus (Shaffer, Peter)
Description: A study of religion through the lens of Peter Shaffer's play Equus. In Unbridled, William Robert uses Equus, Peter Shaffer's enigmatic play about a boy passionately devoted to horses, to think differently about religion. For several years, Robert has used Equus to introduce students to the study of religion, provoking them to conceive of religion in unfamiliar, even uncomfortable ways. In Unbridled, he is inviting readers to do the same. A play like Equus tangles together text, performance, practice, embodiment, and reception. Studying a play involves us in playing different roles, as ourselves and others, and those roles, as well as the imaginative work they require, are critical to the study of religion. By approaching Equus with the reader, turning the play around and upside-down, Unbridled transforms standard approaches to the study of religion, engaging with themes including ritual, sacrifice, worship, power, desire, violence, and sexuality, as well as thinkers including Judith Butler, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Jonathan Z. Smith. As Unbridled shows, the way themes and theories play out in Equus challenges us to reimagine the study of religion through open questions, contrasting perspectives, and alternative modes of interpretation and appreciation.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Intro; title: Playbill; title: Program Notes; title: Cast; title: Prologue; title: Act 1; title: 1.1 Mise-en-scène; title: 1.2 Imagination; title: 1.3 Literature; title: 1.4 Performance; title: 1.5 Case; title: 1.6 Terms; title: 1.7 Problems; title: 1.8 Question; title: Act 2; title: 2.1 Staging; title: 2.2 Performance-Text; title: 2.3 Inter-; title: 2.4 Mask; title: 2.5 Play; title: 2.6 Acting; title: 2.7 Make-Believe; title: 2.8 Play-in-Play; title: Act 3; title: 3.1 Casting; title: 3.2 Relations; title: 3.3 Image; title: 3.4 Human- Horse- Divinity; title: 3.5 Devotion; title: 3.6 Sexuality; title: 3.7 Queer; title: 3.8 Nude; title: Act 4; title: 4.1 Directing; title: 4.2 Passion; title: 4.3 Pain; title: 4.4 Normal; title: 4.5 Tragedy; title: 4.6 Sacrifice; title: 4.7 Ending; title: 4.8 Value; title: Epilogue; title: Encore; title: Credits; title: Notes; title: References; title: Index.