Highly trained Breath control Semi-ritualistic chants of Eastern religions Tempo-Rhythm Emotional release Artaud’s Theatre Alternative theatre spaces Audience at the centre of the action Audience trapped and powerless A sensory experience No boundaries between actor and audience Use of galleries Full musical scores used Recorded sound used at full volume Sophisticated lighting effects Example – The Cenci (1935)
“The auditorium will be enclosed within four walls, stripped of any ornament, with the audience seated below, in the middle, on swivelling chairs, allowing them to follow the show taking place around them.” [T& ID, 1985. p.75] Puppetry and Mask
Symbolism rather than functionalism
Emphasise sense of ritual Cruel and archetypal Example – Ubu Roi (1896) Language Based on signs, not dialogue Anti – character Extended means of communication Speech replaced by sound patterns Surreal Dada poetry Phonetic Poem (1917) Hugo Ball KARAWANE
jolifanto bambla o falli bambla hej tatta gorem
grossiga m’pfa habla horem eschige zunbada egiga goramen wulubu ssubudu uluw ssubudu higo bloiko russula huju tumba ba – umf hollaka hollaka kusagauma anlogo bung ba – umf blago bung blago bung bosso fataka u uu u schampa wulla wussa olobo [Waldberg, P., Surrealism, 1965] There is no more firmament “Darkness. Explosions in the Dark. Harmonies cut short. Raw sounds. Sound blurring. The music gives the impression of a far-off cataclysm; it envelops the theatre, falling as if from a vertiginous height. Chords are stuck in the sky; they dissipate, going from on extreme to the other. Sounds fall as if from a great height, stop short and spread out in arcs, forming vaults and parasols. Tiered sounds.
Beginnings of glimmers that change continually, passing from red to harsh pink, from silver to green, turn white; suddenly boundless, opaque, yellow light, the colour of dirty fog or the Simoon…
Street cried. Various voices. An infernal racket. When one sound stands out, the others fade into the background accordingly…
A hysterical woman wails, makes as if to undress. A child cries with huge, terrible sobs…
Sudden stop. Everything starts again. Everyone takes his place again as if nothing had happened.” [Artaud, A., Collected works] Ritual Influenced by Balinese Dancers Influenced by Neitzsche and the God Dionysus i.e. passion and irrationality Appeals primarily to the senses
“A ritual generally takes the form of repeating a pattern of words and
gestures which tend to excite us above a normal state of mind. Once this state of mind is induced we are receptive and suggestible and ready for the climax of the rite. At the climax the essential nature of something is changed.” [Ann Jellicoe, quoted in Innes. P. 219] Surrealism Themes taken from Surrealism Redefinition of reality Insights into the subconscious Defines madness and non-madness Artaud expelled Selective “I think I have found a suitable title for my book. It will be:
THE THEATRE AND IT’S DOUBLE
For if theatre is the double of life, life is the double of true
theatre…This title will correspond to all the doubles of theatre which I thought I had found over so many years: metaphysics, the plague, cruelty.”
[Quoted in Sellin, 1975. p93]
The Theatre and it’s Double
Production and Metaphysics
Theatre and the Plague The Theatre of Cruelty, First and Second Manifestos Production and Metaphysics Used to express anything that has no rational explanation Use of dance as expression Non-verbal signs for communication More narrative than traditional mime Gesture with depth of meaning Dramatic spectacle Simultaneous action Surrealism Comedy Influences of Metaphysics Balinese Dancers Lot and His Daughters The Marx Brothers Theatre and the Plague
Physical effects Allegory and analogy Stripped theatre of it’s constraints Intention to challenge and disturb audience Definition of ‘real’ play
“A real stage play upsets our tranquillity,
releases our repressed subconscious, drives us to a kind of potential rebellion.”
[T&ID, 1985. p.19]
The Theatre of Cruelty Connection between director, actor and spectator Against conventional theatre spaces Opposed to the representation of real life Creation of a new language Use of emotion Myth, ritual and well-known tales Shock Collected Works Correspondence and letters Interviews Manifestos Reviews The Alfred Jarry Theatre
Film Un Chien Andalou Plays by Artaud The Cenci The Death of Satan
Plays influenced by Artaud
Ubu Roi by A. Jarry Murderer, Hope of Womankind by O. Kokoschka Royal Hunt of the Sun by P. Shaffer Equus by P. Shaffer Marat / Sade by P. Weiss East by S. Berkoff Decadence by S. Berkoff
