The Two Readings About Artaud

Antonin Artaud was a theatre practitioner who was never recognised for his incredible work. His work incorporated taking absolute raw emotions to the most heightened extremes. He was a practitioner who thought way ahead of his time and due to this his unfamiliar theatre practices he was shunned down by the public and eventually was put in an institution where he died after several years of mental instability. Now, traditions are slowly changing due to culture and people have started to accept Artaud's theatre practices and styles.

Theatre as a Plague

Artaud beleived that traditional theatre practices relied solely language and cultural conventions rather than the true, raw emotions of the scene. His practices eliminated language as much as possible and sought to get rid of cultural conventions completely to show the absolute core emotions.

Theatre of Cruelty

Artaud hoped that the Theatre of Cruelty would unleash unconcious responses in the audience that would normally be inaccessible. He wanted audiences to find in the theatre not an area for escape from the world, but the realisation of their worst nightmares and deepest fears. He therefore tried to provoke conditions that would force the release of primitive instincts he believed were hidden beneath the civilised social veneer masking all human behaviour.

Removing the Mask

For Artaud, theatre offered a way of removing the inhibitions and restrictions introduced by social mores and cultural conditioning and uncovering what was authentic. This also included language conventions that posed a barrier to stop people from epressing their raw emotions.

Click the two pictures below to access the two readings about Artaud.