The Infatuated and the Ravishing Day 1

The Infatuated and the Ravishing, a workshop reading* of Muḥammad ibn Dāniyāl’s raunchy, shocking, queer shadow play from 13th/14th-century Cairo in a new translation into English by Prof. Li Guo (U Notre Dame)set into rhyme and rhythmic dialogue by Prof. Matt Sergi (U Toronto).

The Infatuated and the Ravishing (al-Mutayyam wal-̣Dā’i‘ al-Yutayyim), composed by Muḥammad ibn Dāniyāl (c. 1249-1310), is an Arabic shadow play written in multiple verse forms, connected by dialogue in rhythmic, rhyming prose. It centres on “The Infatuated,” a middle-aged man from Mosul who has fallen in love -- and into predatory lust -- with a much younger Cairene man, “The Ravishing.” The play takes queer erotics as its given circumstance and, in language that alternates between subtly beautiful and shockingly graphic, addresses (and makes flippant jokes of) unsettling, very sensitive, and often offensive sexual and violent material (please be conscious of the disturbing nature of this play when deciding whether to attend).

*At a workshop reading, expect a lightly rehearsed early showing of a new/developing play text, before full production has begun -- actors hold the scripts in their hands, with minimal movement and production elements, often revealing the text to a public audience for the first time.  Please do spread the word and come out to support this work in progress: gathering a large, generous, warm audience is crucial at this stage of the play-development process!

Presented by PLS and the Jackman Humanities Institute’s Medieval World Drama Working Group.