The aim of this paper is to explore Antonin Artaud's use of the body in performance, as the "site of all human transformation, liberation and independence" (Barber, p72).
Artaud's immense influence on theatre practice continues to generate interest and debate. Calling for an end to rational drama, his iconoclastic work pushes the boundaries of critical thinking by means of a continuous flow of construction and destruction.
In Antonin Artaud: Man of Vision, Bettina Knapp offered an explanation of Artaud's popularity long after his death: “In his time, he was a man alienated from his society, divided within himself, a victim of inner and outer forces beyond his control. … The tidal force of his imagination and the urgency of his therapeutic quest were disregarded and cast aside as the ravings of a madman. … Modern man can respond to Artaud now because they share so many psychological similarities and affinities.” In the same book she also states that Artaud was unable to adapt to society and its schemes and rules. He built an entire world of artistic production around his sickness and fed this world with madness and disease in order to cure himself through his art. Theatre became his medication and relief in a time when he was completely alienated from the reality surrounding him. For Artaud all there is is the body in itself: "The body is the body, alone it stands" (McKeon,1977, p59). In his Theatre of cruelty he advocates that the organs are enemies of the body and reality is yet to be invented because the organs of the body are not set yet. (Sontag, 1976)
Due to its soft nature, the body is exposed to constant insult and assault, pain and wounds. In his Radio play “To Have Done With The Judgement Of God” he explains that what ent...
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Antonin Artaud, Theatre of Cruelty in: Selected Writings. ed. Susan Sontag, trans. Helen Weaver, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Oeuvres completes, 1976.
Antonin Artaud, To Have Done With The Judgement of God in: Selected Writings. ed. Susan Sontag, 1976; online copy on: http://www.megabaud.fi/~karttu/tekstit/artaud.htm (as of Dec 2003)
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Jacques Derrida, The Theater of Cruelty and the Closure of Representation. trans. Alan Bass, University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Antonin Artaud, The theatre and his double. trans. Mary Caroline Richards, Grove Press, New York, 1958.
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Dunning, Jennifer. Geoffrey Holder: A Life in Theater, Dance, and Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001. Print.
Jean Kilbourne, Richard Pollay, Sut Jhally, Bernard McGrane and other noted critics, performing a cultural
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Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is a comedy that has been interpreted in different ways, enabling one to receive multiple experiences of the same story. Due to the content and themes of the play, it can be creatively challenging to producers and their casting strategies. Instead of being a hindrance, I find the ability for one to experiment exciting as people try to discover strategies that best represent entertainment for the audience, as well as the best ways to interpret Shakespeare’s work.
"Elizabethan Theatre Audiences." Elizabethan Theatre Audiences. Strayer University, 16 May 2012. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
The Theatre of the Absurd (50's) draws on the existentialist writings of Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Camus adapted Dostoyevsky's The Possesed to the stage (1959).
Bordwell, David. “The Art Cinema as a Mode of Film Practice.” Film Theory and Criticism. Eds. Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen. Oxford University Press, 2009: 649-657.
Theatre Journal 37.4 (1985): 426-439. Print. Wheeler, Kip. " Literary Terms and Definitions M." Literary Terms and Definitions "M" Carson-Newman University, n.d. Web. 12 May 2014.
I’ve learned to appreciate the beauty of how theater is more than a performance, but rather an art form with nuance and depth. I’ve been introduced to the Brechtian theater style, and I’ve learned more about the musical theatre style. After studying RENT, I am inspired by the various possibilities for theater beyond acting, singing, and dancing. Theater can be used as a form of activism or commemoration. Theater is so much more than a dramatic presentation. Theater can relay a greater purposeful message about society amidst the theatricals on stage. Brechtian and musical theatre styles are two efficient and ideal methods for raising awareness about social phenomenons and issues because Brecht’s style makes the audience think and analyze the purposes and themes, while musical theatre is a medium that communicates those matters to reach large
Goldman, Emma. The Social Significance of the Modern Drama. Berkeley. Edu, n.d. Web. 09 May 2012.
Brockett, Oscar G., and Oscar G. Brockett. The Essential Theatre. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976. Print.
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, best known as Antonin Artaud, was an anomalous yet astonishing French artist of the early 20th century who held an array of titles including poet, playwright, actor, director, and dramatic theorist. Artaud is profoundly associated with the Surrealist Movement of the 1920’s as well as avant-garde, or experimental, radical theatre. Although his innovative ideas surrounding theatre have influenced many popular writers and dramatists in history, Artaud received little to no success for his poetry, acting, or directing during his lifetime. His greatest contributions to theatre were his harsh and elaborate criticisms of dramatic art, which influenced playwrights
Thom, P (1992), For an Audience: A Philosophy of the Performing Arts (Arts and Their Philosophies), Temple University Press
Avant-Garde Theater is often referred to as the “Theater of the Absurd” (Aronson 112). These words coincide with the historical events that occurred prior to the 1950s. The occurrences in the 1950s society were the inspiration for the genesis of Avant-Garde and playwrights, such as Samuel Beckett.
Theatre as we know it now was born more than two thousand years ago and has gone through many streams until it reached the current modernity. Among these streams is the avant-garde theatre. This theatre achieved a break in the traditional theatre and became the forefront of a new experimental theatre. Therefore it is necessary to ask how this theatre started, what impact it had on society and if this type of theatre is still common in our modern era.