COMING FRI MAY 31 (7PM) AND
SAT JUNE 1 (5PM, after Q&A at 2:30PM):
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. Matthew Sergi (U Toronto)
presented by PLS and the Jackman Humanities Institute’s
Medieval World Drama Working Group
PLS and the Jackman Humanities Institute’s Medieval World Drama Working Group presents this raunchy, shocking, queer shadow play from 13th/14th century Cairo. “The Infatuated,” a middle-aged man from Mosul, 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.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
FRIDAY MAY 31, 7:00PM | SATURDAY JUNE 1, 5:00PM
with a discussion and Q&A featuring Guo and Sergi on Saturday June 1, 2:30pm
at the Jackman Humanities Building, Room 100
170 St George St., Floor 1
Toronto, ON, M5R 2M8
“a mess of men were pressing at the door, his / shirt already stripped off, awfully gorgeous / surrounded by the staring eyes of tourists / another knockout! he for sure hits one-fifty / perfect score, his win wholly, and the gamblers’ / and the fans’, who’d been adding holy blessings (‘Yasin! Taha!’) to their cheers, alms / tossed right on his arms, gold dinars, silver dirhams / collecting on his shoulders and here he comes / closer to me in the dark, his shining face, this — moon / my lunatic heart abducted, as soon as I saw him / my mind aswoon, awestruck, vexed / on the spot I came up with the song I’ll sing next…”
Poculi Ludique Societas 