Abstract
One of the lasting legacies Antonin Artaud left to the world of Western theatre was his interest in Balinese theatre. The important role his experience of Balinese theatre played in the construction of his theory on the theatre was invariably underscored by most of his students and critics. What is striking in all these critiques of Artaud’s (ahistorical) interpretation of Balinese theatre is the lack of a historical perspective as they approach Artaud’s theory as a different Other to the tradition of Western theatre and fail to place it in the historical context of Western theatre and thought. This chapter proposes that Artaud’s interpretation of Balinese theatre and “Oriental” theatre in general must be placed and understood in the historical context of Western theatre and in the historical development of his theory on the theatre. At the same time, it must also be looked at from the historical perspective of Balinese theatre as it evolved in the 1920s and 1930s.
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Notes
- 1.
Florence de Mèredieu attempts to trace the influence by Chinese and Japanese theatre on Artaud, but all her evidence is circumstantial (de Mèredieu 2006a). She even suggests that Artaud per chance saw Mei Lanfang’s performance in Paris:
We cannot help but note the coincidence of certain dates. Mei Lan-fang gave his performances in Paris in March 1935. The performances of The Cenci (by Artaud) took place in Paris in May 1935. Did Antonin Artaud have some echoes of Mei Lan-fang’s performances? We cannot exclude it. (23)
However, this suggestion was factually wrong, as Mei Lanfang never gave any performance in Paris, although he had a short stay there in May 1935 following his visit to the Soviet Union (see chapter “Theatre of Transposition: Charles Dullin and East Asian Theatre”).
- 2.
- 3.
For an account of the Exposition and of the performances by the Balinese troupe, see Savarese 2001, 51–77.
- 4.
“The distinctively Western features” in Janger include, among others, the painted backdrop that bears “a close resemblance to the painted perspective scenery common in theatres in the West in the nineteenth century” (Bandem and deBoer 1995, 97).
- 5.
de Zoete and Spies 1973, ix.
- 6.
- 7.
Kimberly Jannarone reveals the double significance of Artaud’s concept of the director as “Creator”: “The Theater of Cruelty concerns itself above all else with the exercise of power, with what a director—filled with messianic zeal—can do” (Jannarone 2012, 186). For an account of Artaud’s exercise of his power as an artist/director at the Alfred Jarry Theatre, see Jannarone 2012, 142–58.
- 8.
In his essay on Balinese theatre, the key word “peur” (fear) or “terreur” (terror) appears six times (Artaud 1978b, 51–65).
- 9.
- 10.
For an account of Artaud’s relationship to the Surrealists, see Greene 1970, 56–112.
- 11.
- 12.
In a letter dated November 14, 1932, Artaud stated clearly that he used “the word cruelty … in the Gnostic sense of a vortex of life that devours the darkness” (Artaud 1978b, 98–99). Sontag associates Artaud’s thought with the Gnostic themes (Sontag 1976, xlv–liii). So far, the most extensive account of Artaud’s relationship with the traditions of Gnosticism is Jane Goodall’s work, Artaud and the Gnostic Drama. Goodall thus concludes her study: “If Nietzsche’s philosophy has led the way in the modern assault on the onto-theological foundations of Western humanism, Artaud’s [Gnostic] dramaturgy re-echoes the terms and images of an older and absolute assault” (220).
- 13.
In 1932, Artaud wrote of his experience of reading Seneca: “He seems to me to be the greatest tragic writer in history, a man who was initiated into the Secrets and who surpassed Aeschylus in putting them into words. I weep as I read his inspired theater, and beneath the sound of the syllables I hear sizzling hideously the transparent surge of the forces of chaos” (Artaud 1976a, 307. Emphases in original).
- 14.
For example, Artaud used John Ford’s ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Artaud referred to its French version, Annabella, translated by Maurice Maeterlinck) to illustrate his vision of his ideal theatre in the image of the plague (Artaud 1978b, 27–30).
- 15.
For an examination of Artaud’s ideas and productions at the Alfred Jarry Theatre, see Jannarone 2012, 133–58.
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Tian, M. (2018). “IT IS WE WHO ARE SPEAKING”: Antonin Artaud and Balinese Theatre. In: The Use of Asian Theatre for Modern Western Theatre. Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97178-0_7
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