Considered among one of the most influential figures in the evolution of modern drama theory, Antonin Artaud associated himself with Surrealist writers, artists, and experimental theater groups in Paris during the 1920s.
After two years the Parisian Surrealists publicly rejected him and threw him out of their movement. He then founded the Theatre Alfred Jarry with Roger Vitrac and Robert Aron. Together they hoped to create a forum for works that would radically change French theater. Artaud, especially hated Western theater of plot and scripted language.
He became mostly known for his Theatre of Cruelty– an intense theatrical experience that combined elaborate props, magic tricks, special lighting, gestures and articulations with themes of rape, torture, and murder to shock the audience into confronting the evil side of life.
Lifelong mental health issues sent him repeatedly into asylums. He had his first mental breakdown at the age of 16 and having been prescribed opium to deal with it he developed a life long addiction.
Artaud’s own theatrical works were never highly regarded and were seen as less important than his theories. He was also a poet and these works are more highly regarded than his theatre.
He was particularly interested in Magic, Myth and Ritual and explored these themes in his surrealist work. He was aiming for a fusion of hallucination and fear through the vehicle of song, dance and pantomime…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK_vZuLYHcw
He defined and explained his Theatre of Cruelty as;
He felt that theare was too complacent and had fallen into a slump of easy watching of reflection on society. He particularly thought that the emphasis on plot and language- which had come from Aristotle- was all wrong. He wanted to shake up the audience in a ‘violent’ way.
His use of myth, magic, pageant, song, lighting, spectacle and dance without plot or language was intended to shock the audience into realising how bizarre and violent real life is.
He published The Theatre and its Double, a very influential book.
Although I find Artaud quite a shocking theatre maker I can see some links with our production of Antigone.
Artaud wanted the audience to be confronted by the violence of real life. We present some actual violence in the fight between Creon and Haemon in with Haemon dies. More generally, as Antigone is a violent play in its themes, it is a tragedy, you could see some links to Artaud’s theories.
However, I see that our piece is stylistically very different to what Artaud was interested in. Our play is totally dependant on plot and language which he hated. We could perform our play with no set or music or lighting and the meaning and content of the piece would still work. Artaud was trying to get rid of all plot and language and create a visual and sensual experience through stage trickery.
We have still made our play highly visual and incorporated physical and visual theatre, music, lighting, projections and set but the play still relies at its heart on the story.
Rosa Copley 