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Das Alfred-Jarry-Theater
243 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Antonin Artaud
285 books820 followersFrench surrealist poet and playwright Antonin Artaud advocated a deliberately shocking and confrontational style of drama that he called "theater of cruelty."
People better knew Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, an essayist, actor, and director.
Considered among the most influential figures in the evolution of modern theory, Antonin Artaud associated with artists and experimental groups in Paris during the 1920s.
Political differences then resulted in him breaking and founding the theatre Alfred Jarry with Roger Vitrac and Robert Aron. Together, they expected to create a forum for works to change radically. Artaud especially expressed disdain for west of the day, panned the ordered plot and scripted language that his contemporaries typically employed to convey ideas, and recorded his ideas in such works as Le Theatre de la cruaute and The Theatre and Its Double .
Artaud thought to represent reality and to affect the much possible audience and therefore used a mixture of strange and disturbing forms of lighting, sound, and other performance elements.
Artaud wanted that the "spectacle" that "engulfed and physically affected" this audience, put in the middle. He referred to this layout like a "vortex," a "trapped and powerless" constantly shifting shape.
People better knew Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, an essayist, actor, and director.
Considered among the most influential figures in the evolution of modern theory, Antonin Artaud associated with artists and experimental groups in Paris during the 1920s.
Political differences then resulted in him breaking and founding the theatre Alfred Jarry with Roger Vitrac and Robert Aron. Together, they expected to create a forum for works to change radically. Artaud especially expressed disdain for west of the day, panned the ordered plot and scripted language that his contemporaries typically employed to convey ideas, and recorded his ideas in such works as Le Theatre de la cruaute and The Theatre and Its Double .
Artaud thought to represent reality and to affect the much possible audience and therefore used a mixture of strange and disturbing forms of lighting, sound, and other performance elements.
Artaud wanted that the "spectacle" that "engulfed and physically affected" this audience, put in the middle. He referred to this layout like a "vortex," a "trapped and powerless" constantly shifting shape.
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May 11, 2016
This dossier of documents authored by Artaud doesn't contain as much theatre / avantgarde / life theory as one might expect from the author of Le théâtre et son double, but it is interesting for another aspect: The struggle of an author with a non-conformist, avant-garde, outcast personality and the appropriate aesthetics. Besides a few essays this book contains some rather advertising texts and lots of letters. The latter ones range from suppliant to offensive in tone, and especially when it comes to the disputes with the Surrealists, who kicked Artaud out from their so-called movement, shows some true sparks of wit on Artaud's side. For instance Artaud replies to the revolutionary habitus of the Surrealists like this:
"A revolution that has the requirements of production as its primary concern and therefore focuses on the mechanical mode of work as a means of alleviating the situations of the workers looks like a revolution of eunuchs to me. I'm not going to take part in this. On the contrary I think that one of the main evils that we suffer from lies in the fanatic exposition and infinite multiplication of power; it also lies in an abnormal flippancy that has infected our interpersonal relations and doesn't give our thinking time to take roots in itself anymore." (My translation from this German translation of the French original... so it might deviate considerably from the original...)
"A revolution that has the requirements of production as its primary concern and therefore focuses on the mechanical mode of work as a means of alleviating the situations of the workers looks like a revolution of eunuchs to me. I'm not going to take part in this. On the contrary I think that one of the main evils that we suffer from lies in the fanatic exposition and infinite multiplication of power; it also lies in an abnormal flippancy that has infected our interpersonal relations and doesn't give our thinking time to take roots in itself anymore." (My translation from this German translation of the French original... so it might deviate considerably from the original...)
Displaying 1 of 1 review