The Theatre Of The Occult Revival: Alternative Spiritual Performance From 1875 To The Present (palgrave Studies In Theatre And Performance History)

PALGRAVE STUDIES IN THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE HISTORY is a series devoted to the best of theatre/performance scholarship currently available, accessible, and free of jargon. It strives to include a wide range of topics, from the more traditional to those performance forms that in recent years have helped broaden the understanding of what theatre as a category might include (from variety forms as diverse as the circus and burlesque to street buskers, stage magic, and musical theatre, among many others). Although historical, critical, or analytical studies are of special interest, more theoretical projects, if not the dominant thrust of a study, but utilized as important underpinning or as a historiographical or analytical method of exploration, are also of interest. Textual studies of drama or other types of less traditional performance texts are also germane to the series if placed in their cultural, historical, social, or political and economic context. There is no geographical focus for this series and works of excellence of a diverse and international nature, including comparative studies, are sought. The editor of the series is Don B. Wilmeth (Emeritus, Brown University), PhD, University of Illinois, who brings to the series over a dozen years as editor of a book series on American theatre and drama, in addition to his own extensive experience as an editor of books and journals. He is the author of several award-winning books and has received numerous career achievement awards, including one for sustained excellence in editing from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education. 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 Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction....Pages 1-14 The Occult Revival and Its Theatrical Impulses....Pages 15-28 Katherine Tingley and the Theatre of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society....Pages 29-61 The Anthroposophical Theatre of Rudolf and Marie Steiner....Pages 63-100 Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic Theatre....Pages 101-130 Rosicrucian Theatre and Wiccan Ritual....Pages 131-162 The Neo-Paganism Performance Current....Pages 163-181 Conclusion....Pages 183-186 Back Matter....Pages 187-247 Cover 1 Title 6 Copyright 7 Dedication 8 Contents 10 List of Illustrations 12 Acknowledgments 14 Introduction 16 1. The Occult Revival and Its Theatrical Impulses 30 2. Katherine Tingley and the Theatre of the Universal Brotherhood and Theosophical Society 44 3. The Anthroposophical Theatre of Rudolf and Marie Steiner 77 4. Aleister Crowley’s Thelemic Theatre 115 5. Rosicrucian Theatre and Wiccan Ritual 145 6. The Neo-paganism Performance Current 177 Conclusion 196 Notes 200 Bibliography 229 Index 247 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.