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Practitioners: Artaud
Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 2
Artistic intentions.............................................................................................................................. 3
Artauds influence............................................................................................................................ 4
Suitable texts................................................................................................................................... 5
1. Harnessing nature........................................................................................................................ 6
2. Soundscape.................................................................................................................................. 7
3. Choral repetition........................................................................................................................... 8
4. Sequencing.................................................................................................................................. 9
6. On breath.................................................................................................................................... 11
When distributing the activity section to the students either as a printed copy or as a Word
file you will need to remove the teacher instructions section.
This exploration pack will explore Artaud and his desire to create a cruel theatre, with the
exercises towards the end of this resource exploring how Artauds ideas can be used to create
theatre and to devise.
The Theatre of Cruelty unravels conflicts, liberates powers, releases potential and if these and the
powers are dark, this is not the fault of the plague or theatre, but life.
Artaud.A (1974) Collected Works V4. Calder Publications Ltd: London . Page 20
For Artaud the actor is like an athlete, whose body is all important and it is through breath that an
actor can summon feelings. For the actor, breath sparks off physical movement that creates
abstract shapes that then form the basis for theatre.
The more inward and restrained the expression, the more ample, concentrated and substantial
breathing becomes, full of resonances. Whereas breathing is compressed in short waves for
ample fiery externalized acting.
Artaud, A. (2013) The Theatre and its Double. Alma Classics (London). Page 71.
So for Artaud, differences in the way the actor uses breath grounds them in the spiritual world and
then transports them into physical movement thus creating theatre.
Artauds influence
A generation of playwrights and directors have been
influenced by the ideas of Artaud, with the Theatre of the Absurd movement influenced greatly by
him. Practitioners such as Peter Brook and Steven Berkoff have been heavily influenced by the
ideas that Artaud sought for theatre. Today in many devising companies that create new and
innovative theatre you can see Artauds ideas at work.
Artaud, A. (2013) The Theatre and its Double. Alma Classics (London). ISBN 978-1847493323
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Theatre-Double-Artaud-Antonin-
Paperback/dp/B00NPOEVF8/ref=sr_1_35?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457946227&sr=1-35
OBrien, N & Sutton, A. (2012) Theatre in Practice: A Students Handbook, Routledge. London.
ISBN 978-0415508537
https://www.routledge.com/products/9780415508537
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OCR acknowledges the use of the following content: Page 2: Anton Artaud - Universal Images Group/Britannica.com, Page 3: Anton Artaud - Henry Guttmann/Hulton Archive/Getty
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Practitioners: Artaud
Student Activity
In this section are six examples of exercises to use with your students when exploring Artaud.
There is a devising homework for you to set your devising students to create their own vision of
their piece
1. Harnessing nature
Imagine as a group you are standing in a gale.
Imagine the gale buffeting your bodies and start to move in time with the gale as it crashes
through the space.
The gale changes direction and you have to adapt to the change.
Now stand still and imagine the gale has died and there is just a gentle breeze blowing
onto you.
In your group using movement and your breath to support your movement move from the
breeze back to the gale.
Work in time with each other reacting to the wind and each other so you start to all work in
harmony.
Now as a group follow the same process with fire building towards working as a group
going from the feeling of a raging forest fire to the flame of a candle.
Within your piece create a movement sequence that reacts and responds to the physical
elements as you did in this exercise.
Think about using the energy from this exercise and filtering it into your piece.
You can use this exercise as a starting point for your devising work, allowing yourselves as actors
to explore the physicality of the world around you.
Run the scene using the instruments to create a rhythm in the scene.
Aim to create a sound scape that reflects the subtext of the scene.
Then once you have a clear rhythm add the dialogue back to the scene in harmony with the
sound scape.
Now run the scene but without sound and speech you will use movement to replace the
sounds from the previous exercise.
Your movements can be abstract and you can start to work together as an ensemble within
the piece.
Keep in mind your actions and allow them to drive the movement within the scene.
This exercise can create some fascinating movement that organically has come from the
improvisations. If you end up moving as an ensemble or all freezing at a given point then mark
these down as you can along so you can build on it when you come to work on this scene again.
Always keep in mind how you are using the space and the message this communicates to the
audience.
Stand with one person in front of the group, the person at the front then says the first line.
The next two people behind the front person repeat the line varying the volume and texture
of the words.
The next two people repeat the line again but in an opposite way to the two before them.
Move onto the next line working either form the back to the front with the rest of the group
echoing the line.
Once you have a chorus of a few lines then use the same process to add movement and
use pace to build to a climax.
Try breaking the text up so different people have different lines from the poem and as you
move together you as one you use your voices in contrast to the movement.
You can then vary the movement while keeping the vocal part in time.
This kind of exercise can allow you as a group to play with voice and working as a chorus. It will
help you to transform a scene and help to build in tension and climax to your piece. I recently
worked with a group who took the lines from Blakes The Tiger and in a large extended triangle
covering the whole space started in a whisper repeating the chorus as they moved and froze,
moved and froze, the sequence build up to a powerful crescendo exploding into an ensemble
scream. As the lights went down a solitary figure whispered the first two lines of the poem and the
group moved eerily onto the next scene.
Take the action and using freezes split it up into four key movements.
The rest of the group find a space and you will repeat the sequence that is done by the first
person.
You can then add voice and sound to the scene, building text into the scene.
Work on building tension through the pace at which you deliver the sequence.
Repeat the sequence building to a crescendo as you go through the four movements.
Example
I was working with a group looking at the theme of war and how it destroys lives.
The central character did this exercise and used cleaning her rifle as the action.
She then exaggerated each of the four movements so they were much more vivid
and expressive of how she felt being in a war zone. The rest of the group were all
stationed around the stage on different levels mirroring her sequence. They all
started slowly building up each time they repeated the four movements in time. As
they went they added text pain fear mother daughter and used their voices
and musical instruments to heighten the tension as they went. The scene became
quite harrowing; the group played footage of a child victim during the Vietnam
War on a loop during the scene and used extracts from John Cages A Flower to
give the scene a very eerie and ultimately Artaudian effect.
Sitting in a circle, in a group pass around the painting by Hieronymus Bosch The Seven
Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things.
Individually choose a section of the painting and getting up on your feet create an abstract
image that represents the bit of the painting you have chosen.
As a group put together the images as an ensemble moving into position one by one.
Take one of the abstract images and use that as a springboard for a devised scene
focussing on using movement within the piece.
This is a great way to start your devising work; in a very short amount of time you will have a
sequence of images and several journeys to explore physically that can form the basis of your
piece.
Take a series of five shallow breaths and observe how this changes your state of mind,
then take another five shallow breaths using the breaths to act as a springboard for
movement.
Now take three deep breaths and observe how this changes your state of mind, take
another three deep breaths allowing the breaths to act as a springboard for movement.
As a group add a narrative or story that fits the rhythm of the sequence and improvise a
short 30 second scene.
Allow the breath work and the movement to ignite your imaginations to decide on the
narrative as you start to allow the natural world to shape the drama.
For your piece think about how you can alter the staging and use of space to challenge the
audience and question their perceptions of your piece.
Work on using alternative lighting states that will help to communicate directly with the
audience. Try lighting states that are in stark contrast to the action of a given scene.
Work on your vocal projection and how you are using your voice to threaten and challenge
the audience.
Think about how to represent your views on mankind and the society we live in.
Think about breaking down the conventions of typical theatre, change the space, staging,
use levels and movement all to create a different and spiritual experience.
Contrast the emotions used with the action of the play to create an unnerving effect for the
audience.
Create a specific rhythm and tempo to your piece and use it to link and develop the scenes
within your piece.
Work in to your piece the relationship between dreams and reality and how they affect our
journeys through life.