(1896-1948) poet, dramatist
Antonin Artaud was born in Marseille, France. In 1920, he moved to Paris to become an actor. His work, both on stage and as a writer, was influential to the development of experimental theater. In particular, he visualized a new form of theater, both for stage and screen, known as the Theater of Cruelty, in which traditional forms of representation would be cast aside in favor of new actions and spectacles and in which language would be all but abandoned in a carefully choreographed new creation. His efforts to produce his visions, however, failed, not so much as a result of a lack of vision but because he spent most of his life destitute, addicted to numerous drugs and hampered by both physical and mental illness. His book The Theatre and Its Double (1938; translated 1958), however, was later used as the basis for much of the ensemble-theater movement as well as for identifying characteristics that would be linked to the theatre of the absurd.
A prime example of this type of work was his play The Cenci (1935), which was produced at the Theatre Alfred Jarry, a theater cofounded by Artaud himself. An illustration of the Theater of Cruelty, it was performed without a traditionally constructed set and featured minimal spoken dialogue, relying instead on movement, gestures, and incoherent sounds. The goal of this form of art was to force the audience to confront a “primal self” devoid of the trappings of civilization.
A pioneer, Artaud first began to publish his texts, complete with detailed instruction on lighting, violent gestures, and a noisy cacophony of sound in place of music, in 1924, almost 40 years before Andy Warhol introduced the trend of multimedia spectacle. He initially aligned himself with the surrealists, but he was expelled from their group in 1926 because he was unwilling to follow the movement’s mission. Finding himself with few artistic allies, he focused his creative energies on writing essays and poetry, as well as taking small roles in mainstream films, something he felt was degrading to him as an artist.
In 1936 and 1937, Artaud traveled to Mexico (where he studied the rituals of the Tarahumaras Indians), Belgium, and Ireland (where he became increasingly disillusioned with the social restrictions placed on creative artists). He suffered a mental breakdown that involved episodes of violent behavior and hallucinations. On his return from Ireland, Artaud was placed in a psychiatric hospital. Institutionalized from 1937 to 1946, he was subjected to various experimental forms of therapy, including 51 electric shock treatments, coma-inducing insulin therapy, and periods of starvation. As a result, his health declined rapidly.
The final two years of Artaud’s life, after his release from the asylum, were unquestionably his most productive. He sought desperately to give voice to his vision. His final work was To Have Done With The Judgment Of God (1947), a radio script in which Artaud sought revenge against those who had kept him in the asylum. Billed as vicious, obscene, anti-American and anti-Catholic, the script did not air until 30 years after Artaud’s death; it was eventually banned. In the script itself, the United States is presented as a baby factory and war machine. Death rituals are depicted, and excrement is revered as symbolic of life and mortality. Questions about reality are answered with more questions, leading to the final scene in which God takes the stage as a dissected organ on an autopsy table.
Artaud died of cancer, shortly after suffering the disappointment of having his radio broadcast banned, but he left behind a legacy that would influence many generations of artists. As recently as 1982, the punk musical group Bauhaus recorded a song in tribute to the genius of Antonin Artaud.
Another Work by Antonin Artaud
Artaud on Theatre. Edited by Claude Schumacher. London: Methuen Drama, 1991.
Works about Antonin Artaud
Bermel, Albert. Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Plunka, Gene A., ed. Antonin Artaud and the Modern Theatre. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1994.
