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Artaud’s Frightening Theatre of Cruelty Techniques – 63 Explanations

ByJustin Cash Updated Genres and Styles, Senior Drama

What is Theatre of Cruelty?

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Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) was a French dramatist, playwright, poet, actor and theoretician. He advocated an experimental theatre focusing on movement, gesture, dance and signals instead of relying primarily on text as a means of communication.

Much of Artaud’s writings are difficult to comprehend, including the manifestos on his Theatre of Cruelty in the collected essays The Theatre and Its Double.

While his theories and works were not fully appreciated in his lifetime, the influence of Artaud on 20th-century theatre has been significant. His followers included Irish playwright Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot) and English theatre director Peter Brook, among others. The Royal Shakespeare Company, under the artistic direction of Brook, even devoted its entire 1964 season to Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty.

A largely movement-based performance style, Theatre of Cruelty aimed to shock the senses of its audience, sometimes using violent and confronting images that appealed to emotions. The text was given a reduced emphasis in Artaud’s theatre, as movement and gesture became just as powerful as the spoken word. Piercing sound and bright stage lights bombarded the audience during performances.

Artaud experimented with the relationship between performer and audience, preferring to place spectators at the very centre with the intention of trapping them inside the drama.

This is Artaud’s ‘double’: theatre should recall those moments when we wake from dreams unsure whether the dream’s content or the bed we are lying in is our reality.

(The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance)

Theatre of Cruelty Theory

  • Artaud saw both the world around him and the theatre, itself, in need of change
  • He was briefly a member of the Surrealism movement
  • His theatre set to awaken the dormant dream images of our minds
  • Artaud’s theoretical writings included a series of manifestos on the theatre
  • His theoretical essays were published (during his lifetime) in 1938: The Theatre and Its Double
  • His theories were never realised in an accessible form for future generations to interpret easily
  • Artaud attempted to appeal to the irrational mind, one not conditioned by society
  • There was an appeal to the subconscious, freeing the audience from their negativity
  • His theatre could not communicate using spoken language (a primary tool of rational thought)
  • His was a return to a theatre of myth and ritual
  • The Theatre of Cruelty was an enhanced double of real life
  • Artaud created ‘doubles’ between the theatre and metaphysics, the plague, and cruelty
  • He claimed if the theatre is the double of life, then life is the double of theatre
  • His theatre of cruelty was to mirror not that of everyday life, but the reality of the extraordinary
  • This ‘extraordinary’ was a reality not contaminated by ideas of morality and culture
  • Artaud believed his art should double a higher form of reality
  • Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty aimed to appeal to and release the emotions of the audience
  • Mood played an important part in Theatre of Cruelty performances
  • By bombarding the audience’s senses, the audience underwent an emotional release (catharsis)

Acting and Characterisation

  • The actor was encouraged to openly use emotions (opposite to Brecht and Epic Theatre)
  • No emphasis on individual characters in performance (opposite to Stanislavski and Realism)
  • Characters were less defined through movement, gesture and dance (compared to spoken dialogue)
  • Grotowski warned the Artaudian actor to avoid stereotyped gestures, i.e. one gesture to express each emotion

We do not intend to do away with dialogue, but to give words something of the significance they have in dreams.

(First Manifesto, Antonin Artaud)

Reduced Emphasis on Text

  • An emphasis on the written or spoken text was significantly reduced
  • The notion of text being exalted (a more powerful component) was eliminated
  • Artaud referred to spoken dialogue as ‘written poetry’
  • An emphasis was placed on improvisation, not scripts

We intend to do away with stage and auditorium, replacing them by a kind of single, undivided locale without any partitions of any kind and this will become the very scene of the action.

(First Manifesto, Antonin Artaud)

Movement and Gesture

  • Artaud was inspired by a performance of Balinese dancers in 1931 (use of gesture and dance)
  • Grotowski claimed Artaud’s interpretation of the Balinese dancers was ‘one big mis-reading’
  • Artaud wished to create a new (largely non-verbal) language for the theatre
  • Ritualistic movement was a key component (often replacing traditional text/spoken words)
  • Performers communicated some of their stories through signs
  • ‘Signs’ in the Theatre of Cruelty were facial expressions and movement
  • His stylised movement was known as ‘visual poetry’
  • Dance and gesture became just as effective as the spoken word in the Theatre of Cruelty
  • Movement and gesture replaced more than words, standing for ideas and attitudes of the mind
  • Movement often created violent or disturbing images on stage
  • Sometimes the violent images were left to occur in the minds of the audience (not left on stage)

Space and the Actor-Audience Relationship

  • Artaud consciously experimented with the actor-audience relationship in his work
  • The relationship between the actor and audience in the Theatre of Cruelty was intimate
  • There was a preference for actors to perform around the audience, who were placed in the centre (rectangle/ring/boundary)
  • He attempted to reduce or eliminate altogether the special space set aside for the actors (the stage)
  • Grotowski refuted Artaud’s concept of eliminating the stage area
  • Performers being placed in the four corners / on four sides of the space was revolutionary for the time(?)
  • Grotowski argued Artaud’s use of space was not revolutionary; it had already been attempted by other practitioners before him
  • The audience was therefore placed in a weaker, less powerful position (encircled by actors)
  • The audience was often seated on swivel chairs (easily swinging around to follow the action)
  • Galleries and catwalks above the drama enabled the performers to look down on the audience (trapping them inside the drama)
Antonin Artaud Theatre of Cruelty
Antonin Artaud, 1896-1948. Genius or madman?

Stagecraft and Production

  • Emphasis on light and sound in performances
  • The sound was often loud, piercing, and hypnotising for the audience
  • The audience’s senses were assaulted with movement, light and sound (hence ‘cruelty’ in the title)
  • Music and sound (voice, instrument, recorded) often accompanied stage movement or text
  • Lighting used a combination of flooded light and pinpointed, more directed light
  • Using spectacle and sensation, Artaud wanted his Theatre of Cruelty to hypnotise its audience
  • Colour, light and costume added theatrical effect (opposite to Grotowski and Poor Theatre)
  • Sets were eliminated from performances, (but musical instruments could form part of the ‘set’)
  • The Theatre of Cruelty is ‘total theatre’ (full of spectacle)
  • Artaud preferred to dismiss modern costumes, employing clothing used for ancient rituals
  • There is some evidence projection and/or film may have been used in Artaud’s performances
  • Artaud likened the process of film editing to the juxtaposition between performers’ movements and gestures in his theatre
  • Oversized puppets/mannequins/effigies were sometimes used to create contrast in size with the actors
  • Masks were also used on occasions

There can be no spectacle without an element of cruelty as the basis of every show.

(First Manifesto, Antonin Artaud)

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52 Comments

  1. Thank you so much …this was very helpful . Please would you elaborate on the concept of cruelty as conceived by Artaud because I find it too intricate to be pin down and utterly philosophical

    Reply

    1. Hi Jamila, unfortunately, Artuad’s concepts for the theatre are quite difficult to understand and as you rightly pointed out, “utterly philosophical”. What I have in this post is as straightforward as I can explain his theories, however, I would recommend you get a hold of this out of print book “Artaud for Beginners“. I have provided the link to Abes Books who specialise in hard to find and out of print books. It is in graphic novel form. I found it very useful when first trying comprehend Artaud’s theories some years ago. – Justin

      Reply

  2. doing my solo presentation on Artaud. this was insanely helpful, thank you so so much justin.

    Reply
  3. Paul Stanton says:

    Really helpful, thanks.

    Reply

  4. This has helped me thoroughly with my A-Level coursework, THANKS JUSTIN!

    Reply

    1. Greetings from Australia, Sasha! Thanks so much for your feedback. Glad this resource helped you in your studies. – Justin

      Reply

  6. thanks meant a lot hope one day i could meet up with him

    Reply

    1. the guy died like years ago.

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  7. As a KS5 Drama teacher this article has really helped my students consider their own work in relation to Artaudian ‘style’ and conventions. Thanks so much

    Reply
  8. Hamiida Namugga says:

    Very well explained piece

    Reply
  9. Stanley Jenkins says:

    I remember seeing an experimental film of sun ra performing which seemed to me to approximate the theater of cruelty in many ways. As the performer played, and was filmed in black and white, bright lights were shined directly into the camera, causing a strobe effect. The music was loud and the effect was disorienting, painful and ….well….cruel.

    Reply
  11. Ariel Styk says:

    It’s helped me a lot!
    Thanks:)

    Reply

  12. I’m a professional theatre maker and I specialize in working in the Theatre of Cruelty, Epic Theatre, Theatre of the Poor and Theatre of the Oppressed. Reading The Theatre and it’s Double was like reading my own mind. I literally cried. It’s my favorite bedtime book.

    Reply

    1. Not going to lie you sound like the coolest person ever!!

      Reply

  13. Thank-you so much for this well-written, informative post! Would you be able to clear up for me why many people regard Theatre of Cruelty as an “impossible” form of theatre? What about it makes it impossible to produce?

    Reply

    1. Hi Meghan, thanks for your feedback. I think the difficulty with Artaud and his Theatre of Cruelty is that Artaud’s own writings are difficult to decipher in a coherent form and that may be why his theatre is considered by some as difficult to produce. Yes, it is avant-garde, but so is a lot of great theatre. Perhaps it is the holy, ritualistic, surreal, hypnotising, bombarding and movement-based elements of Artaud’s drama that make it a challenge for theatre-makers? I certainly enjoy teaching Artaud in the senior high drama classroom and my students always find his concepts for the theatre engaging, yet challenging.

      Reply

  14. I’m pretty sure I understand Artaud, Michael. I agree, his theatre was indeed a theatre of magic. The point I was making in this article is that Artaud’s concepts are often difficult to understand. Given that the target audience of this blog is high school drama/theatre teachers and their students, I’m sure you’d agree The Theatre and It’s Double is not exactly easy reading for a teenager. Hence the purpose of this post, aiming to break it down into a concise and coherent form. I wouldn’t bother writing about Artaud unless I believed his theatre was worthy of it.

    Reply
  15. Michael Freeman says:

    You mostly write about how you don’t understand Artaud. Don’t write about Artaud if you aren’t ready to understand it. He is the completely rebellious artist — and took risks all his life to prove it. His theater goes against the precepts of Westernized theater. If you are stuck to that, then you will never understand. There are no yawns in Artaud’s audience. It’s a theater of magic.

    Reply

  16. This was a life saver, it’s very difficult finding such concise well written information like this. Thank you so much!

    Reply
  17. JOHN CALVERT says:

    Speaking as a writer, I find the current stage of much theatre abysmal…. admittedly there are a handful of writers and directors producing new and exciting work but they remain unrecognised and unacknowledged.Artaud other others showed what could be achieved in theatre, but hardly anyone these days wants to take up that challenge. With the advance of countless innovations in stage technology, you would think it would be now more than ever possible to produce a theatre which stuns and intruigues us… just as Artaud imagined. Alas , we seem to be afraid of the new , the dangerous.

    Reply

  18. Very helpful for my A-level drama piece acting in the style of Artaud, using the script of 100 for our stimulus. Thanks

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  19. Thankyou this was really helpful.Just did a mock GCSE that explored Artauds use of drama.Then had to write and explain about Artaud in a devising log that was marked by an exam board.Really appreciate it.

    Reply

  20. Artaud has inspired me to create my own play

    Reply
  22. Beatrice Hooper says:

    Thank you this was very helpful for my Drama GCSE homework.

    Reply
  23. Agbonkhese Derek Godfrey says:

    Nice work your research on Arturd’s theatre really helped me for my master exam. Derek

    Reply

  24. I’m really interested in this form of drama, I want to perform it, and I have many ideas, I am currently studying it in drama and it blows my mind away

    Reply

    1. Could you please recommend me a workshop idea to present to my class? It’s so hard of a project:(

      Reply

      1. Sam, try creating a workshop that focuses on assaulting the senses. Loud pre-recorded music, piercing sound, bright stage lights, invasion of personal space, lots of movement, running and intense physical activity, pulsating sounds via the use of the actor’s voice and body, creating a sense of eeriness, dreamlike atmosphere etc. This will all make sense with Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty.

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        1. Hey, thanks a lot for the idea! I have to create a 45min – 65min long seminar for my class and I will need to go over the style of theatre thoroughly. More specifically I will need to include the : Biography on the practitioner(s), a detailed description of the elements, principles, and style of the genre, and a workshop (40-45 minutes) that exposes students to the style of the genre. For the workshop, what would you recommend me to ask my fellow peers to present. My class has 16 students in it (including my partner and I). I’m thinking of maybe splitting up the class into 7 groups of 2, but then what should I ask them to do? Should I give them all a scene or something to act out, or a theme, and ask them to try and portray that theme through the techniques you’ve learned through Artaud’s style of theatre?

          Sam

          Reply

  25. Artaud was on occultist,comparriate of Crowley and devised this form of theatre as a early form of what would become large scale ritual performances intended to alter mental states.it was basically a predecessor of Mk ultra type mind control.he did predict the large scale rituals we have now any Grammy ceremony in recent years has had some type of occult performance.I’m not saying he’s bad I was risked hermetic but I’m telling you what your learning about is occultist Artaud was unable to handle the things he dabbled and delved into and drove him mad.I’m not saying occultism is bad, but I do think people should know before participating in his techniques.its designed to hit subconscious triggers that can open old trauma or pain thus making you open to influence and control.if you were raised hermetic you learn very early to loose fear because fear leaves you venerable to the things you try to harness if you fear it it will turn on you.that’s why theres rituals that must be performed in progression of training.Artaud and Crowley alike lacked discipline you can’t dabbled with these things.like Crowley trying to preforms the abramelin was his downfall Artaud wasn’t mentally able to cope and its something that can happen to others who participate in his ritual theatre.100 may try it and only one be effected but you never know how mass rituals will effect people performer or audience and I can tell you the exact grimoire he got this idea from, its an offshoot of the gotta.if someone truly harnesses magick.youll never know dabblers send addicts will publicize it true practioneers have no need of publicity and definitely dont want spotlight.its basically playing with live wires its unsafe the traditional protection for the performers are nonexistent.the 4corners north east south west above and below the set up is a ritual in itself so just coming together even unintentional activates the portal.

    Reply

    1. Food for thought, Brandon! Thanks for your detailed comment on the links between Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty, ritual and the occult.

      Reply

  28. very helpful with my drama diary thank you (GSCE)

    Reply

  29. Hi, this is brilliant and has helped me so much. Was just wondering if you had a refference list available for this?

    Reply

  30. He influenced surrealists. You have the causation working the wrong direction.

    Reply

  31. Just used this for an essay for my interdisciplinary work for my degree, was very helpful thank you!

    Reply

  33. So helpful with my GCSE Drama work

    Reply
  35. Clair Haynes says:

    This alone has triggered many ideas to workshop and experiment with. …Great, concise explanation – thank you!

    Reply