Programme Selection

After reviewing Artaud's proposed programme I think Buchner's Woyzeck could be the most successfully recognised in terms of the 'Theatre of Cruelty'. The play follows the protagonist Woyzeck, a military barber, who stabs to death his beloved wife in a jealous rage. The obvious violence of this play aside, what makes it, for me,a clear choice is the way Buchner focuses on the themes of maddness, the sub-conscious and the hallucinations Woyzeck suffers from, at the hands of the doctor. The emphasis on the subconscious and the psychological torment the protagonist undergoes, is almost similar to the effect Artaud wishes to evoke in his audience, and the inclusion of hullucinations could give the performance a dream-like quality; it goes beyond the conscious. This play also looks at the themes of violence and lust, socially controversial subjects that would demand the attention of the audience, and questioning their morals. I also believe Woyzeck could be just a successful if the language was indeed, disregarded, and a 'unique language' based around the body and gesture was used as the images depicted are so powerful.

For example when Woyzeck watches Marie dance with the Drum Major, it is noted that Woyzeck embodies the beat of the music and the heat of the dance, and his line 'Stab, stab the bitch dead' refrains. This could be a physically grotesque image, in which the performer is evidently tormented by the beating music, in close proximity to the audience, by using distorted, uncomfortable body movements , the characters inner suffering could be realised without the use of 'dead language'.