An Intro to Theater of Cruelty!!

The next unit we will be studying in theater is Theater of Cruelty – I can already predict that it will be my favorite. I have always been a horror movie fanatic, and there is something about disturbing and eerie imagery that I really admire and enjoy. As Mrs. Morris gave us a preview of this genre, we found out that Antonin Artaud was responsible for creating this form of theater. Theatre of Cruelty aimed to shock the senses of its audience, sometimes using violent and confronting images that appealed to the emotions. Also, Artaud experimented with the relationship between performer and audience, preferring to place spectators at the very center of a performance surrounding them. His intention was to trap the audience inside the drama. Another important aspect of this form of theater was aimed to appeal to the irrational part of the audience’s mind, releasing disturbed and uneasy emotions from the audience.

I find this form of theater so interesting, and the idea of appealing to the irrational mind really interests me. As we discussed in class, why are humans so interested in this theater form when its sole purpose is to disturb us? I aim to find the answer to this question as we continue our unit.

I also found it interesting that Theater of Cruelty is not only cruel to the audience, but to the performers as well. The performers must place themselves out of their comfort zones to act in disturbing ways – for example, to reenact a rape scene – and this takes a lot of emotional strength. I think this will definitely be a huge challenge for me, because although I enjoy watching Theater of Cruelty, I’m not sure if I have the emotional strength to challenge myself in such disturbing ways. I hope that as we go through this unit, I can develop the skills needed to be a performer in this theater form.

Lastly, we briefly began to discuss the group performance we will be doing for this theater form as a class. It is interesting that this is the first performance we will be doing together as one group for the entire class, but I’m definitely going to use this collaborative experience to see who I would like to work with later for the Collaborative Project, depending on who is hard working, creative, and is easy to work with. I’ve already started noticing some stubborn tendencies in some of my peers, such as refusing to allow others to input their opinions during our brainstorming session, and I will use this information to decide my group later for the Collaborative Project.

I’m excited (and SCARED wink wink) for what this unit will bring!