Research Catalog

Theatre and the threshold of death : lectures on the dying arts

Title
Theatre and the threshold of death : lectures on the dying arts / Kathleen M. Gough.
Author
Gough, Kathleen M., 1972-
Publication
  • London ; New York : Methuen Drama, 2024.
  • ©2024

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StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library MWET 24-3134Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre

Details

Description
xiii, 176 pages : illustrations; 23 cm.
Summary
"On the eve of a global pandemic, a theatre professor becomes immersed in the lives of five artist-mystics, each of whom is a "first" in her field: Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), the first known musical composer, Eleanora Duse (1858-1924), the first modern actor in the Western world, Simone Weil (1909-1943), philosopher, activist and mystic, who Albert Camus called "the only great spirit of our time," Marina Abramovic (b. 1946), "the grandmother of performance art," and Hilma af Klint (1862-1944), the first known (and belatedly acknowledged) abstract painter. Each time Gough crosses a threshold into their world she is compelled to attend courses, seminars, and workshops that are simultaneously about dying and about healing. What does it mean to follow artists to practices where being in a healing relationship to other bodies is a fundamental requirement? Turning to the performance theories she has taught for twenty years, she begins to chart her experience through the dramaturgy of the first medieval mystery play - a play with hidden, mystical significance that begins with a visit to a tomb to discover a missing body who is alive in another way. Imagining these five mystics as a hierophantic faculty in a mystery school, Gough creates a series of lectures that move in that liminal space between skepticism and knowledge to ask questions about subjectivity, personhood, and the necessity of staying in relationship with the unknown world. Like the serial method in art practice, Gough's lecture series make a persuasive argument for relational thinking, and the urgency of keeping open the questions that implore us to stay in a fully embodied relationship with our collective present-tense"--
Series Statement
Thinking through theatre
Uniform Title
Thinking through theatre.
Subject
  • Mysteries and miracle-plays > History and criticism
  • Religious drama > History and criticism
  • Liminality in literature
  • Life cycle, Human, in literature
  • Theater > Philosophy
  • Religious drama
  • Theater > Philosophy
Genre/Form
  • Criticism, interpretation, etc.
  • Lectures
  • Lectures.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Call Number
MWET 24-3134
ISBN
  • 9781350385511
  • 1350385514
  • 9781350385566
  • 1350385565
LCCN
2023025275
OCLC
1388403124
Author
Gough, Kathleen M., 1972- author.
Title
Theatre and the threshold of death : lectures on the dying arts / Kathleen M. Gough.
Publisher
London ; New York : Methuen Drama, 2024.
Copyright Date
©2024
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Series
Thinking through theatre
Thinking through theatre.
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Other Form:
Online version: Gough, Kathleen M. Theatre and the threshold of death London ; New York : Methuen Drama, 2024 9781350385528 (DLC) 2023025276
Research Call Number
MWET 24-3134
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