G R A P H Y History of Theatre of Cruelty Wikipedia. Theatre of Cruelty. Retrieved 24/02/19 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_Cruelty Encyclopedia Britannica. Theatre of Cruelty | Experimental Theatre. Retrieved 01/03/19 from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Theatre-of-Cruelty The British Library. Antonin Artaud and the Theatre of Cruelty. Retrieved 04/03/19 from https://www.bl.uk/20th-century- literature/articles/antonin-artaud-and-the-theatre-of-cruelty
Conventions Thedramateacher.com. Theatre of Cruelty Conventions. Retrieved 27/02/19 from https://thedramateacher.com/theatre-of-cruelty- conventions Wikipedia. Theatre of Cruelty. Retrieved 01/03/19 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_Cruelty
Antonin Artaud Biography.com. Antonin Artaud. Retrieved 24/02/19 from https://www.biography.com/people/antonin-artaud-9189906 The British Library. Antonin Artaud and the Theatre of Cruelty. Retrieved 24/02/19 from https://www.bl.uk/20th-century- literature/articles/antonin-artaud-and-the-theatre-of-cruelty Bohemian Ink. Antonin Artaud. Retrieved 27/02/19 from http://www.levity.com/corduroy/artaud.htm Hubert, Arnaud. Antonin Artaud. Retrieved 02/03/19 from http://www.antoninartaud.org/home.html Bermel, Albert. Artaud's Theater of Cruelty. New York: Taplinger, 1977.
Jet of Blood & Les Cenci
Woodhead, C. (2006, September 25). Jet Of Blood. Retrieved 27/02/19 from https://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/art-and- design/jet-of-blood-20060925-ge37e3.html Stein, Leila. (2016, July 05). Les Cenci. Retrieved 03/03/19 from http://cuemedia.co.za/2016/07/05/les-cenci-methods-of-madness Alyssa Carmen Che Chiara Spencer
T H E A T R E O F C R U E L T Y L E S C E N C I Originally a five-act Italian play (although the length of one act), “Les Cenci” was written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1815. It was then reinvented by Artaud in 1935. However, Artaud’s interpretation was viewed as far too graphic and disturbing for the eyes of the general public. Therefore it only ran for a total of 17 shows before being forced to close down. The show is often referred to as being unspeakably gruesome, as it is perhaps one of the most undiluted examples of true Theatre of Cruelty that exists.
(above L-R) early productions of “Jet of Blood” and “Les Cenci”.
(above L-R) modern interpretations of “Jet of Blood” and “Les
Cenci”. J E T O F B L O O D There are a great deal many plays that include conventions of Theatre of Cruelty, however very few tend to fall under the theatre style entirely. The few that do are often short, strange, and incredibly excessive in their inclusion of graphic images and stylised violence. Practitioner Antonin Artaud wrote “Jet of Blood” in 1925, later declaring it the first play to be written in the style of Theatre of Cruelty. The play generally lasts for a total of four to five minutes in total.
The story begins with a Young Man and Young Woman sitting close together, talking romantically. A Knight and a ‘Wet-Nurse’ enter. It is implied they are the parents of the Young Man and Young Woman. The Wet-Nurse sobs as she exclaims that the Young Man and Young Woman are screwing. They run off stage. The set changes and the Young Man runs into the town square, searching for his wife. He interacts with many townsfolk. Suddenly, a large hand appears from the sky and grabs a prostitute by her hair. The hand screams at her, “Bitch! Look at your body.” The prostitute bites the hand and everyone dies except the young man and herself. She orgasms and falls into his arms. The Knight and Wet-Nurse reappear on stage, the nurse is holding the Young Woman in her arms. She falls to the ground, dropping the Young Woman. The knight blocks his eyes as scorpions scuttle out from under her dress, her vagina glistens and splits in half, becoming transparent. The Young Woman sits up and exclaims, “The Virgin! That’s what he was looking for.” It is here that the show ends.
KNIGHT: Let go of your tits. Give me my papers. KNIGHT: Quiet, there's no girl there.
WET-NURSE: [Screaming in high-pitch] Ah! Ah! WET-NURSE: I'm telling you they're screwing.
KNIGHT: Damn, what's the matter with you? KNIGHT: What do I care if they're screwing?
WET-NURSE: Our daughter, there, with him. WET-NURSE: Incest.
(above) an excerpt from “Jet of Blood” (1925)
❖ Focus on text was significantly reduced ❖ Ritualistic movement was a key element often replacing words ❖ Communicated stories through signs (facial expression and movement) ❖ Emphasis on improvisation rather than scripts ❖ Stylised movement - visual poetry ❖ Movement often created violent and disturbing images on stage ❖ Dance and movement were just as important as words ❖ Preference for actors to perform around the audience (rectangle/ring)
C O N V E N T I O N S
❖ Attempted to reduce or eliminate space between
actors and audience ❖ Audience seated in swivel chairs ❖ Emphasis on lighting and sound ❖ Sound was often loud and piercing ❖ Audience’s senses were “assaulted” ❖ Emphasis on music and sound ❖ Sets were eliminated ❖ Dismissed modern costumes ❖ Some projections/films ❖ Oversized puppets ❖ Stun the audience’s senses and immerse them fully in the theatrical experience A N T O N I N A R T A U D Known solely for his work establishing and later developing the Theatre of Cruelty, Artaud lived a relatively short and undeniably calamitous life. He was 5 years old when he suffered his first extreme health problem, a near-fatal attack of meningitis. This set him down a rocky path adorned with countless serious medical issues. In his teenage years he suffered neurasthenia, which was to be treated with opium in order to alleviate the pain. Much in accordance with a modern understanding of the drug’s effects, Artaud soon developed a severe addiction, which later declared him unable to fight in the army in 1918. In the later years of his life he was diagnosed as schizophrenic, and spent a decade moving through several mental institutions. He died of cancer at the age of 52.
Artaud’s interest with the absurd and the extreme
was first sparked by his early involvement in the surrealist movement. In 1923 and 1925 respectively, after spending a few years studying the concept of surrealism, he published two separate volumes inspired by the great surrealists he looked up to: Mallarmé, Verlaine, and Rimbaud. The latter of these volumes contained, amongst an assortment of letters, poems in prose, and sporadic chunks of dialogue, Artaud’s first complete work – “Le Jet de sang” (“The Jet of Blood”). The playlet, which was no more than five minutes in length, was at long last published separately and premiered in 1964. Artaud broke with the surrealist movement soon after publishing “L'Ombilic des limbes”, deciding that his views on theatre were unique enough that they could be fashioned into a theatrical style of their own. After years of consolidating his views in volumes discussing dramatic theory, as well as writing and producing works that he thought sufficiently depicted his Theatre of Cruelty, he was able to coin the style and reference it repeatedly in his later texts.
In his own words, “the Theatre of Cruelty has been
created in order to restore to the theatre a passionate and convulsive conception of life, and it is in this sense of violent rigor and extreme condensation of scenic elements that the cruelty on which it has been based must be understood. This cruelty, which will be bloody when necessary but not systematically so, can thus be identified with a kind of severe moral purity which is not afraid to pay life the price it must be payed.”
