Artaud

Artaud

Artaud's birth name is Antonin-Marie-Joseph Artaud he was born on the 4th of september 1896 in Marseilles. He was the son of a wealthy shipfitter and his mother was from a Greek background, When he was five years old he went through a near death experience sue to the attack of meningitis this traumatic event remained with him for the rest of his life.

He went to school at the Coll'e du Sacre Coeur in Marsieilles at the age of 14, he stayed there for almost four years. During his teens he began to have head pains and aches which continued throughout his life. In 1914 he became the victim of neurasthenia  (headaches, emotional disturbance)  which was treated by resting at home. In 1915 he was given the drug Opium to help reduce his pain however he became addicted to it within a few months. 

In 1916 Artaud was enrolled into the army but release less than a year later due to mental instability and his drug addiction. However in 1918 he committed himself to a rehab facility in Switzerland ad got released in 1920. When he was released he went to Paris and began to study with Charles Dublin who is an actor and director. Soon he found jobs in the Theatre industry including: Stage actor and costume designer.  

He became interested in the surrealist movement and published L'Ombilic des limbes which was a collection of letters, poems and bits of dialogue. 

Artaud broke with the organized surrealist movement in 1926, when Breton became a Communist and attempted to take his fellow-members with him into the party. Yet Artaud continued to view himself as a surrealist.

In 1932-1933 he published his first work of dramatic theory, Manifestes du theatre de la cruaute (Manifestos of the Theater of Cruelty). Since one of Artaud's theories involved the breaking of the barrier between actors and audience, Les Cenci may be have been the first play ever staged in the round.

Diagnosed as schizophrenic, Artaud spent the next nine years in mental hospital, returning to Paris. Artaud died of cancer on March 4, 1948, in a rest home near Paris Artaud had no success at all with his theories in drama, poetry, or fiction.