| dc.description.abstract | While the extreme complexity of his vision makes this technical analysis necessary, academic understanding of the technical work of Yeats only takes the initiate to a limited point of understanding. "Thought," says Yeats, "is nothing without action;" and if we confine ourselves to technical explanation of his vision, we fail to recognize an entire world of magic. It therefore becomes necessary, as Yeats states, to "master what is most abstract there and make it the foundation of our visions, (so that) the curtain may ring up on a new drama." (Vision, xi).
The heart of this project lay in a theatrical experiment aimed at discovering and practically applying this abstract foundation of Yeats' artistic vision, attempting to create an art form similar to his proposed "new drama." This involved applying those mystical elements of the Yeatsian labyrinth, including spiritualism, myth and magic, on palpable level to a production of one of the poet's most popular and powerful plays, The Only Jealousy of Emer. | en |
