Antonin Artaud
From Wikinfo
Antonin Artaud (born September 4, 1896 in Marseille, France - died March 4, 1948 in Ivry-sur-Seine). Playwright, actor, director.
Antonin Artaud, in his book "theater and its double" expresses his admiration for eastern forms of theater, particularly the Balinese Theater. He admires eastern theater because of the codified, highly ritualized physicality of Balinese dance performance, and advocates what he calls a "Theater of Cruelty". By cruelty, he does not mean sadism or causing pain, but rather a violent, physical determination to shatter the false reality which lies like a shroud over our perceptions. He believes that text has been a tyrant over meaning, and advocates, instead, for a theater made up of a unique language halfway-between thought and gesture.
It is significant to note that Artaud was institutionalized for some time beause he was considered to be insane.
Artaud died in 1948 and was interred in the Cimetiere de Marseille in Marseille, France.
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Antonin_Artaud" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonin_Artaud, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
