EgoPo's "Artaud Unbound'

Antonin Artaud's The Theatre and Its Double is the sort of book that college professors often recommend to their drama students, and which promptly changes their lives. The book describes theater as an art form that strives to create unforgettable moments of truth.

Artaud (1896-1948), a French actor, poet and playwright, was a significant figure in theater history. Peter Brook, while staging his Marat/Sade, said he was influenced by Artaud, and Allen Ginsberg claimed that Artaud inspired his most famous poem, "Howl." (Artaud's work as an actor can be seen in Abel Gance's historic silent film, Napoleon, where he played Jean-Paul Marat.) But hardly any of his work is seen on stages today.

Artaud suffered from stammering— and unlike England's George VI, who was lucky to find a brilliant speech therapist, Artaud was treated with opium, which led him to drug addiction. His creations embraced surrealism and totally rejected rationality. We must wonder: Was this a thought-out philosophy, or the product of his addled brain?

Because of this mystery, I was curious to see EgoPo's chronicle of Artaud's life, notwithstanding the pain of observing his disintegration.

Silent film scenarios

The Latvian Society performance space was transformed into a candle-lit Gothic parlor, with the audience seated at cabaret tables. The first two sections of this four-part production were scenarios for silent movies— ghost stories like those told at children's campfires. In the first, "Thirty-Two," the actors recited the lines that describe them and their actions, thusly: "One of his favorite students goes up to him and hands him a book. He stares at her in a strange, tender way."

Lane Savadove directed the story of a professor who is revealed to be a serial murderer. He was hauntingly played by Ed Swidey with a supporting cast of six women. The acting was expressive, staying just this side of going over the top.

The second playlet was "The Butcher's Revolt," directed by Brenna Geffers. Here the narrators told a story that was acted silently, but with great animation, by Megan Hoke and David Blatt.

Descent into paranoia

The third and fourth selections showed Artaud's writing as he descended into paranoia and schizophrenia. "To Have Done With the Judgment of God" is taken from a radio play written in 1947 in which Artaud described a new policy in elementary schools: Semen would be collected from all entering students and used to expand the population of America and Western Europe so these countries could wage war against the Soviet Union.

"They want at all costs and by every possible means to make and manufacture soldiers," the central character, earnestly played by L. J. Norelli, explained, "...to demonstrate by force the superiority of American products."

Savagery of life

"Manifestos and Spurt of Blood" was a combination of a short play written by Artaud when he was 30 and two pessimistic manifestos that he wrote later. Michael Alltop, from Brat Productions, directed this section and played the writer.

When he appeared in the audience Alltop cast furtive glances around him as if he were being followed. When it dawned on him that he was in a theater, he denounced the idea of amusement and asked for a "pure" realistic look at the savagery of life. Audience members should know that they "will not come out unscathed," he said.

Artaud espoused a "Theater of Cruelty," but he wasn't referring to sadism (for that, see Martin McDonagh's plays, such as The Lieutenant of Inishmore). Rather, Artaud used convulsive language and violent gestures to shatter people's comfort zones. Here was one playwright who knew whereof he spoke: The title of this program reminds us that Artaud spent much of his last years in a straitjacket.