Synopses & Reviews
Based on field research and archival study, this book offers an in-depth exploration of the religious foundations, political and social significance, and aesthetic aspects of the theatre created by several of the most influential leaders of the Occult Revival: Katherine Tingley, Rudolf Steiner, Marie Steiner-von Sivers, Aleister Crowley, Alexander Mathews, and Gerald Gardner. The Occult Revival was an international surge of interest in the supernatural, magic, and Eastern mysticism that thrived in Europe and the United States between the late nineteenth-century and the mid-twentieth-century. By studying the theatre that was developed in affiliation with occult movements, this book shows how theatre contributed to the complication and fragmentation of Western religious culture during the turn-of-the-century Occult Revival and how theatre continues to play a part in the development of occult rituals and beliefs.
Synopsis
This book explores the religious foundations, political and social significance, and aesthetic aspects of the theatre created by the leaders of the Occult Revival. Lingan shows how theatre contributed to the fragmentation of Western religious culture and how contemporary theatre plays a part in the development of alternative, occult religions.
About the Author
Edmund B. Lingan is Associate Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Theatre and Film at the University of Toledo, USA.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. The Occult Revival and Its Theatrical Impulses
2. Katherine Tingley and the Theatre of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society
3. The Anthroposophical Theatre of Rudolf and Marie Steiner
4. Aleister Crowley's Thelemic Theatre
5. Rosicrucian Theatre and Wiccan Ritual
6. The Neopagan Performance Current
Conclusion