An Artaudian Study of Jean Genet’s The Balcony

Rebwar Zainalddin Mohammed; Ari Najm Omar

doi:10.25098/3.2.25

Authors

Rebwar Zainalddin Mohammed
Ari Najm Omar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25098/3.2.25

Keywords:

cruelty, anarchy, desire for power, illusion, hopelessness, reality

Abstract

Antonin Artaud’s ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ is an anti-establishment theatre of the mid twentieth century. It is the result of Artaud’s mistrust in western theatre to function as real theatre and show the origin of human being, and his present status quo. Artaud built this new type of theatre to demonstrate images on the stage that are cruel to the norms of civilization and the established order.

The present study examines a play by the French playwright, Jean Genet; The Balcony, according to Antonin Artaud’s theory of the ‘Theatre of Cruelty’. In this paper, different methods and notions are used to apply Artaud’s theory on the play. Firstly, an introduction to Artaud’s ‘Theatre of Cruelty’ is provided. Then, desire for power in Genet’s play is analyzed as a method in which Artaud’s theory is reflected. After that, collapse of hope, as resemblance of Artaud’s hopelessness is studied. Eventually, the notion of ‘house of illusions’, which is the name of the Grand Balcony in the play, is examined as a way through which Artaud’s suggestion of illusion and dreams in his theatre is demonstrated.

Finally, the study ends up with the conclusion, which goes over the main points of the main important findings of the study, and followed by the list of the works cited in the paper.

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