"The paradox of Artaud lies in the fact that it is impossible to carry out his proposals."- (Grotowski) Discuss how this statement us true in light of what you know about his theories.

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“The paradox of Artaud lies in the fact that it is impossible to carry out his proposals.”- (Grotowski) Discuss how this statement us true in light of what you know about his theories.

There is no straight forward answer to this question as there are many points to consider. The dictionary states that a paradox is;

‘A statement etc. that seems to contradict itself or to conflict with common sense but which contains some truth’

 Grotowski wrote an essay on Artuad and his theories which was called “ he wasn’t entirely himself”. In this essay he sums up Artauds achievements as they reflect on his own pratices in his idea of theatre but at the same time he challenges Artauds theories which trivialise him.

To try and answer this question I am going to investigate some of Artauds theories for a successful theatre of cruelty, one which involved the audience, one that terrified and shook the audience to the point of real emotional fear.

During Artauds life he made many proposals to stand against the usual. Artaud dismissed all Stanislavskian realism ideas as uninspired. Artaud wanted to tap into the unconscious; he envisioned theatre as a sensory experience which as to be cruel in the way it bombarded and overwhelmed the audience’s senses.

        He achieved this idea of theatre becoming a sensory experience by setting different objectives to be incorporated whilst performing. These are the objectives that I am going to investigate into as to see whether the statement above contains any truth or if in fact all of Artauds theories were possible to achieve.

        Artauds main objective was to make the audience live through an experience

‘The spectator will be shaken and set on edge by the internal dynamism of the spectacle’

Innes, 1993

He wanted theatre to challenge and heighten the spectator’s emotional response, a total sensory identification with the show. The audience had to maintain a constant state of uncertainty; this would lead to a huge emotional response.

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        One of Artauds theories was to use sound in a fresh and different way, this would startle and shock the audience. Artuad placed great emphasis on sound because it has the power to engage the audiences’ inner sense. One way he used sound in a different way was in his play ‘Cenci’ when he recorded bells from the four corners of the theatre to greet the audience, performer’s footsteps were recorded and played at full volume and voices which shouted and whispered the name of the Cenci which rose in crescendo this was then immediately silenced.  This  usage of sound ...

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