The Infatuated and the Ravishing

The Infatuated and the Ravishing, a workshop reading of Muḥammad Ibn Dāniyāl’s Raunchy, Shocking, Queer Shadow Play from 13th/14th Century Cairo

A new translation into English by Professor Li Guo (U Notre Dame)
Set into Rhyme and Rhythmic Prose by Professor Matt Sergi (U Toronto)

With a discussion and Q&A featuring Guo and Sergi, on Saturday June 1, at 2:30 pm

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

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 across multiple verse forms, connected by dialogue in rhythmic, rhyming prose. It centers on “The Infatuated,” a middle-aged man from Mosul who has fallen in love – or, often, 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 the subtly beautiful and the shockingly graphic, directly addresses unsettling, disturbing, and very sensitive topics and content.

*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. 

** Free and open to the public