Final
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-enter our minds.”- Artaud Theater and Its Double page 99
The Aspect:
Artaud implemented overload on sensory to the point where the audience feels panicked, uncomfortable, and overwhelmed.
For my performance, I will be using overload on sensory as well. This will be done by:
- Contrast of bright and dim light
- Flickering light
- Crescendo and decrescendo of audio
- High frequency noises
- Verbal incantations
- Groans and screams
- Pulsating listing effects
Artaud’s notes on Light, Lighting. Theater and Its Double, page 95
Artaud’s notes on basics of audibility. Theater and Its Double, page 93
My Play of Choice
Title of Play: The Glass Menagerie
Playright: Tennessee WIlliams
Characters:
Tom: Son of Amanda, Brother of Laura. Tom provides means of stability to AManda and Laura, who do not make income. He despises his life of working endless hours to make money for the house and wants out of it. Tom looks out for Laura and throughout the play and struggles with deciding whether or not he should leave his mother and sister to fend for themselves with no money to take care of themselves and for Laura, no support system.
Amanda: Mother to Tom and Laura. Amanda spends her time speaking to gentlemen callers. Her role throughout the play is t urge Laura to get out into the world and do something. This means either finding a job or finding a gentlemen of her own.
Laura: Laura is a quiet, shy, and intimate character. Her insecurities stem from her leg which disables her from doing many activities. Throughout the play Laura keeps to herself, almost hidden, but when she is around her glass menagerie she is more content with herself and a much happier. Her glass menagerie are her friends and her comfort.
Why I chose this play: The Glass menagerie tells the story of family Tom, Amanasa, and Laura. Tom was forced to take the role of “man of the house” after his father left the family and never returned. The role of “man of the house” caused Tom to b the only one working and only stable source of income. At the end of the play Tom decides to be like his father, and leave the family as well, which leaves Amanda and Laura to fend for themselves.
The scene I created and performed takes place right after Tom’s final monologue, when he leaves Amanda and Laura and says goodbye to the idea of protecting Laura. 
The stage directions motion Laura to blow out the candles and then the play ends. What I wanted to explore after reading this play were these thoughts that I had:
“What happens to Laura after Tom leaves? What happens once the candles are blown out.”
I found that creating a scene The Glass Menagerie, specifically the moments after Laura blows out the candles, would be great paired with Theater of Cruelty. This is because Artaud found his theater to be a good fit for addressing, “the people’s feeling of abandon and panic”(99 Double, Artaud). To be able to see Laura after she blows out the candles would be to see the panicked and abandoned woman left with nothing but her friends, the glass menagerie. Of Course the fact that candles are involved also play with Raynaud's infatuation with the power of conflagration (302 Selected Writings, Sontag). More figuratively thinking, Laura blowing out the fire is extremely powerful. Fireworks as the symbol of extreme violence and destruction. For Laura to be able to put out the fire means that she is more powerful than fire, and for this reason even more violent.
Workshop
Evaluation of the solo theatre piece and my personal reflection
I think that my performance went poorly. The track that i wanted to use was actually for some reason the wrong one, so it felt like it was missing something. I also watched my performance and I found it very boring to watch at the end. I feel as though Artaud would not be very impressed. The performance seems to be lacking the main thing I wanted, which was overload of sensory. Instead, the comments my classmates made was more on my acting itself, as in the my facial features. That is important of course, but I think I need to work on overwhelming the audience more. It seems as though the audience today was drawn in, but still trying to sympathize with me. My goal is to just have them extremely overwhelmed.
"Works Cited"
Theater of Cruelty Digital Theater+ https://www.digitaltheatreplus.com/education/plays-and-productions
Artaud and the Concept of Drama in Theology
MLA
Arrandale, Rick. “Artaud & the Concept of Drama in Theology.” New Blackfriars, vol. 88, no. 1013, 2007, pp. 100–112. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43251106.
Or
Chicago
Arrandale, Rick. "Artaud & the Concept of Drama in Theology." New Blackfriars 88, no. 1013 (2007): 100-12. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43251106.
Books:
The Theater and Its Double by Antonin Artaud Translator Mary Caroline Richards
Antonin Artaud: Selected Writings by Antonin Artaud Editor Susan Sontag
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