L'esthétique de la Cruauté by Franco Tonelli (review)

Book Reviews • L'ESTHETIQUE DE LA CRUAUTE, by Franco Tonelli. Paris: Nizet, 1972. 152 pp. L 'Esthhique de la Cruaute is an interesting expose of Antonin Artaud's theatrical concepts as applied to some of the works of th~ Marquis de Sade, Roger Vitrac, Michel de Ghelderode, Samuel Beckett, and Fernando Arrabal. Let us recall that Artaud viewed the theatre as had the people of antiquity: as a ritual whose purpose was to stimulate numinous and religious experiences within the spectator. To achieve this end he sought to expand the spectator's reality by arousing the explosive and creative forces within man's unconscious which, he believed, was more powerful than rational consciousness in determining man's actions. By means of a theatre based on myths, symbols, and gestures, the play, for Artaud, became a weapon to be used to whip up man's irrational forces, so that a collective theatrical event could be turned into a personal and living experience. Artaud's ideas concerning the theatre are - in brief - as follows: divest the theatre of aU logic and verisimilitude; touch and bruise the ..spectator, thereby forcing involvement. The theatre must not be considered as mere entertainment, nor as a game-like activity, but rather as a "kind of event," a totally unexpected event. The audience becomes an intrinsic part of the theatrical venture. The spectator must be shocked, react violently to the "unprecedented eruption of a world" on stage: he must feel that he is seeing the essence of his own being before him, that his life is unfolding within the bodies of others. If a theatrical production is to be considered effective, the spectator must experience anguish, be immensely and intensely involved; so deeply affected that his whole organism is shaken into participation. Artaud called the theatre he wished to see come into being "The Theatre of Cruelty." But cruelty, the term as used by Artaud, does not mean blood or carnage, though these might occur during a performance. Philosophically speak117 118 BOOK REVIEWS ing, the word "cruelty" means to create, to breathe, to cry - any act is cruelty. Everything that is not dormant in life is cruel. When Brahma, for example, left his state of rest, he suffered. When a child is born, it knows pain. Death, transformation , thirst, love, appetite are all cruelties. The Theatre of Cruelty production must contain "physical" and "objective" elements, capable of acting and reacting upon everybody's sensibilities: screams, apparitions, surprises, magic, beauty, rituals, harmony, movement, colors, etc. Artaud relegated the word to its proper place as one of the ways of expressing and acting upon man's inner world. If words are to be effective, they must be manipulated like solid objects; they must act and react upon each other and upon the spectator. The word is a concrete reality and it must be uttered with the vehemence of the emotion that gave birth to it. Words are not merely a means ofcommunication. Artaud sought to restore to them their primitive functions and qualities, their incantatory nature, supernatural aura, mesmerising and magical faculties (as in hymns, prayers, etc.) - all lost to modern man. To recreate the world of the word necessitated first its destruction. Established words, meanings and sounds would have to be shattered before new content could emerge. Words then become as hieroglyphics, a visual translation of certain mysterious elements within man and the universe. Artaud had expressed a desire to dramatize one of the Marquis de Sade's tales for his Theatre of Cruelty venture. Tonelli believes that in de Sade's narrative works "evil reigns in an autonomous and almost gratuitous manner" but in his play~, it is subservient to the plot. In La Nouvelle Justine evil triumphs, and therefore this work is charged with mythical ramifications. Vitrac's Victor ou Les Enfants au Pouvoir presents a paradox: that of the child who is in danger of annihilation as he attempts to confront the adult world and yet, who is better equipped than the adult to do so because he is capable of transcending the hazards of such a society. Victor, Tonelli asserts, obeys the aesthetics of a Theatre of Cruelty production, because it goes beyond the...