Ритуал і драма

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the nature of the ritual relationship and theater on the example of the Muslim ceremonial theatrical performance of the Ta’zijah – the Shi’i passion play. The chosen problem caused the broad context of the study. In particular, the author draws attention to the peculiarities of the combination of ritual and theater in ancient Greece, as well as in the European and American culture of the twentieth century. In addition, the specificity of ritual and theater connections in other cultures, including Chinese and Japanese, is monitored. Considering the ancient ritual action in terms of theatricality and perception of the seen, the researcher turns to the artistic practice of the American avant-garde theater of the 1960’s and 70’s. Particular attention is paid to the influence of the Muslim ritual theater on the European theatrical culture of the twentieth century: the famous director Peter Brook’s impression from the revival of the ceremony in Iran in the 1970’s. At the same time, the author insists that Ta’ziah is practically impossible to adequately perceive outside the social, cultural and religious context. One of the reasons for this is that viewers become part of the action as well as performers, while a detached skeptical public cannot take part in the action which is deprived of faith. Focusing on contemporary non-religious tendencies in European and American theaters, the researcher comes to the thought of the German theater critic Ericks Fischer-Licht, who views non-rationality in the context of contemporary performative culture. In this regard, he resorted to the general characteristics of performative, outlining the ideas of Antonina Arto, Jerzy Grotowski, Peter Brooke and others. The research methodology is mainly based on the comparative method, which involves comparing the archaic rituals of different cultures from the ancient to the Far Eastern, as well as the features of the combination of ritual and theater in these events. An important theoretical basis for the study was the work of the performance theorist Richard Schehner and his mentor Anthropologist Victor Turner. In addition to cultural anthropology, the researcher uses the theoretical works of contemporary European theater critics, in particular Ericks Fischer-Lichte advocating the exclusive influence on the spectator of the ritual performance of the Ta’ziah. The novelty of the work. For the first time in a complex way involving a broad context, using a comparative approach, based on cultural anthropology and based on the study of art, the connections of ritual and theater have been investigated on the example of the Muslim ceremonial theatrical performance of the Ta’ziah. Conclusions. We have shown that ritual and theatre are not identical, though they may be similar.