How does the theatrical world interact with spirits? How do spirits gain agency through performance? How have modern-day theatrical conventions been dictated by multi-generational attitudes towards spirits? This brief study examines close relationship between theatre and spirits, a relationship manifested through ritual and religious practice, tracing the the changing attitudes towards spirits through theatre history. Touching on international ideas such as Japan''s noh , Korea''s gut , Malaysia''s mah yong , and Greek Drama, Theatre and Spirits combines theatre studies with ritual, religion, and performance studies, concisely explaining the complex relationship between theatre and the spirit world it may evoke: through the lens of theatre, everyday ritual and religious practice can also be understood at the level of theatricality.

Autorentext
Alvin Eng Hui Lim is Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies at the National University of Singapore. He holds a PhD in Theatre Studies jointly awarded by the National University of Singapore and King's College London. He is also Deputy Director and Technology and Online Editor (Mandarin) of the Asian Shakespeare Intercultural Archive (A|S|I|A, http://a-s-i-a-web.org/). Lim's first monograph, titled Digital Spirits in Religion and Media: Possession and Performance (2018), studies how lived religious practices in contemporary Singapore perform in combination with digital technology. He has also published on theatre, translation, digital archiving, and religious performance in Singapore.

Inhalt

Introduction

1. Sacred Places and Liminal Spaces
2. Ritual and Re-Enactments

3. Bodies and Possession

   Conclusion: Technologies of Spirits