THEATRE OF CRUELTY ANTONIN ARTAUD 1896 1948 ARTAUDS

THEATRE OF CRUELTY ANTONIN ARTAUD 1896 - 1948

ARTAUDS CHILDHOOD • A difficult life. 6 of his 8 brothers and sisters died of childhood illnesses. • He suffered from meningitus aged 4. • Left with terrible head pains and a stammer • Severely depressed through teens.

Mental health. • Artaud spent some time in institutions struggling with inner demons. His life was full of pain, and he had odd beliefs. He obtained a walking stick in his late 20 s which he believed had once belonged to the devil, St Patrick and Jesus. • He ended up in a straight jacket.

Philosophy • Artaud believed that theatre should effect the audience profoundly and so used strange and disturbing forms of lighting, sound and performance. • In one performance he used such graphic images of the plague, the audience were sick in their seats!

Stylisation • Acting might be exaggerated or repeated or slow motion etc. • Voices could be extreme or bizarre. • Walking and moving could be in a set pattern • Pauses would grow into silences • Lighting changes to extremes. • Sound effects and graphic images.

• Theatre of Cruelty aimed to hurl the spectator into the centre of the action, forcing them to engage with the performance on an instinctive level. For Artaud, this was a cruel, yet necessary act upon the spectator designed to shock them out of their complacency. • Imagination to Artaud, is reality; dreams, thoughts and delusions are no less real than the "outside" world.

Artaud saw suffering as; essential to existence

Willing suspension of disbelief • The audience accepts when they enter a theatre to see a play that for a time they will pretend that what they are seeing is real. • This should be more than a piece of entertainment, it should be thought provoking and life changing and should describe the truth of human existence!

• Life is ultimately cruel and destructive and in the end we all inevitably Die!!