Olivia HL Theater Blog

Theorist: Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud Dramatist, poet, essayist, actor, theater director Type of theater: Theater of Cruelty Avant-garde theater A skeptic of old traditions and standards Author of: “Theater and its double” ORGANIZED ANARCHY Goal was to draw audience in and wake up their nerves and heart Irrational, feeling that life is meaningless or a man that's a puppet control by invisible outside forces What I will be pulling from Artaud Throughout my creative process, I kept in mind some of the philosophies of Artaud: The Plague: Artaud believed that theater should be like a plague that takes over the actor(s) and spreads to the entire audience. There is no way of escaping the plague. This idea was explored in the workshop I led for my IB theater class. Cruelty: “Without an element of cruelty at the root of ever spectacle, the theater is not possible. In our present state of degradation it is through the skin that metaphysics must be made t re-...

The play I will be using to direct in a Theatre of Cruelty style is The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. I will be using the last scene when Tom is saying "blow out the candles Laura".

Exercise Using a nursery rhyme: Humpty Dumpty "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king's horses and all the king's men Couldn't put Humpty together again." Have to consider * movements, *sounds to project, etc. *volume, dynamics, *are actions extremed or slowed down? Artaud's idea of Theater being like a plague. "He wrote about how the theatre should be like a plague. The thing he highlighted in the plague was the contagion. It should be this contagious, uncontrollable force that invades the body of the actor rendering all their intellectual capabilities useless: turning them into this pure, affective energy. It is a central metaphor for Artaud.  It is the sense that there is no escape from it. If you are in the room, you’ll have the plague, you’re going to be infected by this energy, this destructive force. It doesn’t care who you are, you can be anybody and you can still be infected by it. The pl...

Theater of Cruelty Notes: Artaud: Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud Theater of Cruelty Dramatist, poet, essayist, actor, theater director Avent garde theater Skepticism of old traditions and standards “Theater and its double” ORGANIZED ANARCHY Only one play got to be produced : Le Cenci Goal was to draw audience in and wake up their nerves and heart How: Verbal incantations Groans and screams Pulsating listing effects Oversized stage puppets and props Irrational, feeling that life is meaningless or a man that’s a puppet control by invisible outside forces Specific aspect: sensory overload I will focus on playing with loud and overwhelming noises. STYROFOAM? Araud was sick in the brain and his works showed this. It is thought that his his unstable mental health caused a barrier between himself and others and that this could be reflected as a reason for why there seemed to be confused for his audience. Was into myths? Cruelty doesn’t...

Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud Theater of Cruelty Dramatist, poet, essayist, actor, theater director Avent garde theater  Skepticism of old traditions and standards “Theater and its double” ORGANIZED ANARCHY Only one play got to be produced : Le Cenci Goal was to draw audience in and wake up their nerves and heart How: Verbal incantations Groans and screams Pulsating listing effects Oversized stage puppets and props Irrational, feeling that life is meaningless or a man thats a puppet control by invisible outside forces I will focus on playing with loud and overwhelming noises.  STYROFOAM?