The Antitheatre of Antonin Artaud
An examination of esthetic transgression
applied to the contemporary theatre
Doctoral Dissertation
by Thomas Crombez
Defended on 31 May 2006 at the University of Antwerp
(“Het antitheater van Antonin Artaud: Een kunstfilosofisch
onderzoek naar de transgressie toegepast op het heden-
daagse theater“)
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ABSTRACT
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What does it mean to transgress a law on the theatre stage? I distinguish two types of theatrical transgressions: represented or ‘material’ transgressions, which are part of the dramatic storyline, and scenical or ‘formal’ transgressions, which violate the laws of theatre itself.
In the first chapter I argue that the developments of 20th-century theatre, in particular the historical avant-garde, have made a clear distinction of these two types impossible. A material transgression is never enacted without the formal laws of staging also being infringed. The consequences of this phenomenon are surveyed by means of the so-called ‘death-theory of the avant-garde’ (Bürger, Foster, Mann).
In order to study theatrical transgression in its most extreme form, I focus on the work of avant-garde director and reformer Antonin Artaud. His theatrical designs and his writings aim at a generalization of theatrical transgression. The 2nd chapter deals with methodological considerations. Chapters 3 and 4 provide a philosophical framework for the concept of generalized transgression, drawing on the philosophy of religion (gnosticism, sabbatianism, and other forms of antinomianism) and the philosophy of mathematics (self-referential paradoxes).
Chapters 5 to 7 explore three different aspects of Artaud’s transposition of generalized transgression to the stage. In chapter 5, his notion of a “spectacle intégral” leads to an examination of the play ‘Les Cenci’. I argue that ‘Les Cenci’ is a mannerist drama that forcefully avoids, through scenical transgressions, any moralistic or sentimental ‘closure’ of the violent dramatical events it represents. Chapter 6 studies Artaud’s doctrine of catharsis. His contradictory ideas about the theatre as an instrument for social purification turn out to be closely linked to his fascination with Elizabethan revenge tragedy. Again, the mannerism of these plays is crucial, because it helps to construct a ‘philosophical theatre’. In this view, the ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ is not meant to diffuse a specific philosophical doctrine, but to teach a philosophical attitude that centers on the ‘urge for truth’. In chapter 7, Artaud’s theatrical designs and productions are used to complement the influential reading of his writings by Derrida. I show that Derrida’s interpretation advocates a gnostic reading of Artaud that is incomplete. Artaud’s uncountable parodies and appropriations of dramatical texts and theatrical conventions are rarely taken into account.
The last chapter analyses a case of a contemporary ‘theatre of transgression’, namely the ‘Tragedia Endogonidia’ by the Italian company Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio (directed by Romeo Castellucci).