Antonin Artaud

In January 1948, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and succumbed to it three months later on 4 March 1948 at a psychiatric clinic. It was also suspected that he died from a poisonous dose of the drug, chloral hydrate.

He has been mentioned in popular culture time and again. For instance, the band ‘Motley Cr�e’ named the ‘Theatre of Pain’ after reading his bid for the ‘Theatre of Cruelty’. He also influenced Argentinian hard rock band, who named one of their albums ‘Artaud’ after him.

John Zorn, the composer, composed six different records in Artaud’s honor.

Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud was born to Euphrasie Nalpas and Antoine-Roi Artaud in Marseille, France.

At the age of four, he suffered from meningitis, which ultimately gave him an edgy, short-tempered personality throughout his adolescence. He also suffered from stammering problems and clinical depression.

In 1916, he was drafted into the French Army and was allegedly discharged due to sleepwalking. After he was discharged, he was admitted to a sanatorium for a while. During this time, he read the works of Arthur Rimbaud and Edgar Allan Poe.

In 1920, after being discharged from the sanatorium, he moved to Paris, to pursue a career as a writer. It was there that he realized his passion for experimental theatre.

In 1921, he contributed articles to periodicals like ‘Litterature’ and became a leading face of the Surrealist group. He would also edit issues of other top Surrealist magazines during this time.

During his stay in Paris, he trained with directors like Charles Dullin and Georges Pitoeff and wrote both, poetry and essays. In 1927, he also did a small role in ‘Napoleon’ as Jean-Paul Marat.

He developed a great interest for cinema as well and hence, wrote the setting for the first Surrealist film of his career, ‘The Seashell and the Clergyman’, in 1928. The same year, he appeared in his first film, ‘Passion of Joan of Arc’, in which he did a small role

He witnessed a traditional Balinese dance performance for the first time in 1931 at the Paris Colonial Exposition. This one performance went on to influence many of his ideas for theatre.

The same year, the ‘First Manifesto for a Theatre of Cruelty’ was published in ‘La Nouvelle Revue Francaise’. In 1935, his production of Shelley’s, ‘The Cenci’, premiered. The play failed commercially, but it became known because it used the Ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument for the first time.

‘The Theatre and its Double’ was released in 1938 and is largely considered his magnum opus because it attacked standard dramatic conventions. It was one of the two manuscripts that outlined the ideology of the ‘Theatre of Cruelty’. The collection is still widely used to this day and has strongly influenced the directing attitudes of renowned figures such as Peter Brook. It is also included in ‘Le Monde’s 100 Books of the Century’.