The Theatre and Its Double
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Through Essay
Composition and publication history
The Theatre and Its Double was originally published 1 February 1938 as part of Gallimard's Métamorpheses Collection in an edition limited to 400 copies.:51 The books consists of Artaud's collected essays on theatre dating from the early thirties, many of which were published in Nouvelle Revue Française (NRF). Artaud was in "a near catatonic state in the mental hospital of Sainte-Anne" in Paris when the book was finally published.:51 He had been able to correct the text's proofs between his journeys to Ireland and Mexico.:104
Chronological release
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Themes
Artaud looked to revitalize life through theatre, bringing about a transformation of the audience and society. His work was an attack on theatrical convention and theater's overemphasis on written and spoken language. For example, in No More Masterpieces, Artaud attacks what he believed to be the elitism of an irrelevant, outdated literary/theatrical canon, calling for theatre "to finally do away with the idea of masterpieces reserved for the so-called elite, but incomprehensible to the masses".:53
Two key themes are the "double" and "cruelty".:49 For Artaud, "the double consisted of those things which can bring about a glimpse into real life, that which is not corrupted by culture and civilisation.":49 Cruelty, was "a violent rigour" and "extreme concentration of stage elements" that would restore to audiences "an impassioned, convulsive concept of life to theatre".:50
Artaud expressed the importance of recovering "the notion of a kind of unique language half-way between gesture and thought".
English translation and influence
The first English edition of The Theatre and Its Double was translated by M.C. Richards and published by Grove Press in 1958. Richards encountered Artaud's name in Jean-Louis Barrault's memoir Reflections on the Theatre (1951).:35 Prior to beginning the translation, Richards had collaborated in a close reading of the text with John Cage and David Tudor at Black Mountain College. Cage credited this close reading as the impetus for Theater Piece No.1, a 1951 performance art event regarded as the first Happening. Participants included Robert Rauschenberg, Charles Olson, David Tudor and Merce Cunningham. Afterwards, Tudor encouraged Richards to begin translating the text.
Richards' translation introduced Artaud to the avant-garde scene in America, and is still considered to be the definitive English translation of the text. It is still read, and strongly influenced the directing philosophies of such renowned avant-garde and contemporary groups and figures as Peter Brook, The Living Theatre, The Open Theatre and La Mama's Great Jones Repertory Company, most notably in their production of The Trojan Women directed by Andrei Serban and composed by Elizabeth Swados.