Antonin Artaud
French theater theorist and occasional playwright whose The Theater and Its Double proposed a 'Theater of Cruelty' that would bypass rational thought and assault the audience's nervous system. His influence on performance art, experimental theater, and the 1960s avant-garde was enormous despite producing little theater himself.
Works
- The CenciTragic play depicting rape and familial destruction among nobility
- The Theater and Its DoubleManifesto advocating theater of cruelty to assault audience senses
- Jet of BloodSurrealist piece with violent imagery and grotesque absurdity
- Spurt of BloodSurrealist piece with violent imagery and grotesque absurdity
- The Philosopher's Stone