Antonin Artaud

Antonin Artaud was born on the 4th September 1896; he was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director. Antonin Artaud associated himself with Surrealist writers, artists, and experimental theatre groups in Paris during the 1920s. Many believe Artaud's most noted contribution to drama theory is his "theatre of cruelty," an intense theatrical experience that combined elaborate props, magic tricks, special lighting, primitive gestures and articulations, and themes of rape, torture, and murder to shock the audience into confronting the base elements of life. Artaud spent nine of his last eleven years confined in mental facilities but continued to write, producing some of his finest poetry during the final three years of his life.