In this lesson we focused on Antonin Artaud. Artaud was the creator of 'Theater of Cruelty', all of his ideas were theories and he never actually created a certain way of acting
'Theater is as beneficial as the plague, impelling us to see ourselves as we are, masks fall and divulging out world's lies, aimlessness, meanness and even two facedness.'
- this quote is about how Theater shows us the truth about the world, taking apart the lies we have been told and everyone being on the same level as have all been lied to.
- the idea of theater being 'as benefial as the plague' maybe discusses the idea of the plague killed everyone whether you're white, black, rich or poor, the plague made people everyone see each other on the same level and this is essentially what theater does.
In class we watched 2 videos which were 'Theater of Cruelty' and there were some extremely violent, disturbing, interesting, disgusting and just plain weird imagery. There was a common theme of blood, people walking around naked, fire, eating raw meat and many other weird things. There we intimate interactions with the audience where the actors were running into the audience and not caring whether the moved out the way or not. The whole message of his theory would be to 'show and externalise hidden emotions and thoughts using Artudian theories and techniques.
'a theater where violent physical images pulverize, mesmerize, the audience's sensibilities caught in the drama as in if in a vortex of higher force'
Theater of Cruelty essentially 'rids humankind of repressions society had placed upon us and liberates each individuals instinctual energy', basically saying if you go to see a piece of this type of theater and you see someone being violently murder to all extremes then it would stop you from wanting to do it.
- it removes the barrier between the audience and actors which almost makes them a part of it.
- mythical spectacles that would include verbal incantations, groans and screams, pulsating, lighting effects and over sized stage puppets and props.
- The cruelty it takes for the actor completely strip away their masks and the cruelty of showing an audience and the truth that they don't want to see.
ACTIVITIES:
- Walk around the room, we were given an object which we had to create and add an sound. e.g. a sausage on a grill. The sound I added to this was a scream because the sausage was being killed.
- The smoker, I was the smoker, pretending to smoke. BUT what happens inside this sausage. So whilst I stood in the middle pretending to smoke. Others were being what is happening inside. Someone put their hands around my neck and chest and they were shaking me. someone stood behind me etc
- We got into pairs and were given characters: a parent and child, a drug dealer and buyer and a civilian and politician. We acted out the scenario naturally first and then we added Artaudian theory of 'Theater of Cruelty' to it. So we rid of the naturalism and voice and added just sound. The sound that we did represented how we felt. This was all about 'revealing the double' . Revealing what someone truly feels inside ,the side that they can't show.
- We then got into groups of five. We were given the task of creating a piece which was an everyday task but adding noise to it. Ours was of someone walking into a bathroom, so they walked in and opened the door which was embodied by a person and they made a creaky noise. They then stepped o the carpet which was me and I screamed to show the pain of the carpet which was being stepped on. They then went to the toilet which made a flushing/screaming noise. They then went to have a hot shower, where the shower was screaming because of the hot water.
- Got into pairs and created a piece based on a poem. 'Why are you so pale, Marie?...'
- Got into 5's again and created another piece based on a poem. 'There's a whore on every corner...'
Artuad 'Theater of Cruelty' is a way of rejecting the conventional forms of theater. It completely ignores the idea of 'staging', audiences are completely involved in performances.
We also discussed the idea of sound being a universal language. In my piece (the last one) I was crying, and we had went to Japan and did that performance, they wouldn't have understood the language but they would have understood the crying.
'Theater is as beneficial as the plague, impelling us to see ourselves as we are, masks fall and divulging out world's lies, aimlessness, meanness and even two facedness.'
- this quote is about how Theater shows us the truth about the world, taking apart the lies we have been told and everyone being on the same level as have all been lied to.
- the idea of theater being 'as benefial as the plague' maybe discusses the idea of the plague killed everyone whether you're white, black, rich or poor, the plague made people everyone see each other on the same level and this is essentially what theater does.
In class we watched 2 videos which were 'Theater of Cruelty' and there were some extremely violent, disturbing, interesting, disgusting and just plain weird imagery. There was a common theme of blood, people walking around naked, fire, eating raw meat and many other weird things. There we intimate interactions with the audience where the actors were running into the audience and not caring whether the moved out the way or not. The whole message of his theory would be to 'show and externalise hidden emotions and thoughts using Artudian theories and techniques.
'a theater where violent physical images pulverize, mesmerize, the audience's sensibilities caught in the drama as in if in a vortex of higher force'
Theater of Cruelty essentially 'rids humankind of repressions society had placed upon us and liberates each individuals instinctual energy', basically saying if you go to see a piece of this type of theater and you see someone being violently murder to all extremes then it would stop you from wanting to do it.
- it removes the barrier between the audience and actors which almost makes them a part of it.
- mythical spectacles that would include verbal incantations, groans and screams, pulsating, lighting effects and over sized stage puppets and props.
- The cruelty it takes for the actor completely strip away their masks and the cruelty of showing an audience and the truth that they don't want to see.
ACTIVITIES:
- Walk around the room, we were given an object which we had to create and add an sound. e.g. a sausage on a grill. The sound I added to this was a scream because the sausage was being killed.
- The smoker, I was the smoker, pretending to smoke. BUT what happens inside this sausage. So whilst I stood in the middle pretending to smoke. Others were being what is happening inside. Someone put their hands around my neck and chest and they were shaking me. someone stood behind me etc
- We got into pairs and were given characters: a parent and child, a drug dealer and buyer and a civilian and politician. We acted out the scenario naturally first and then we added Artaudian theory of 'Theater of Cruelty' to it. So we rid of the naturalism and voice and added just sound. The sound that we did represented how we felt. This was all about 'revealing the double' . Revealing what someone truly feels inside ,the side that they can't show.
- We then got into groups of five. We were given the task of creating a piece which was an everyday task but adding noise to it. Ours was of someone walking into a bathroom, so they walked in and opened the door which was embodied by a person and they made a creaky noise. They then stepped o the carpet which was me and I screamed to show the pain of the carpet which was being stepped on. They then went to the toilet which made a flushing/screaming noise. They then went to have a hot shower, where the shower was screaming because of the hot water.
- Got into pairs and created a piece based on a poem. 'Why are you so pale, Marie?...'
- Got into 5's again and created another piece based on a poem. 'There's a whore on every corner...'
Artuad 'Theater of Cruelty' is a way of rejecting the conventional forms of theater. It completely ignores the idea of 'staging', audiences are completely involved in performances.
We also discussed the idea of sound being a universal language. In my piece (the last one) I was crying, and we had went to Japan and did that performance, they wouldn't have understood the language but they would have understood the crying.
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