'The human face
is an empty power, a
field of death ...
... after countless thousands of years
that the human face has spoken
and breathed
one still has the impression
that it hasn't even begun to
say what it is and what it knows.'
-Antonin Artaud
(from a text to introduce an exhibition of his portraits and drawings, Galerie Pierre, July 1947)

"Antonin Artaud's name is associated with a fundamental revolt against insincerity, and especially against insincerity in literature, where the written word corresponds to an attitude or a prejudice." -Wallace Fowlie

"Of major importance in the evolution of Artaud's thought was the Colonial Exposition of 1931, where he was able to observe performances of the Balinese theater. These were the immediate origins of his conception of the Theater of Cruelty for which he wrote the First Manifesto in 1932 and the Second Manifesto in 1933." -Wallace Fowlie

"A dramatic presentation should be an act of initiation during which the spectator will be awed and even terrified--and to such a degree that he will lose control of his reason. During that experience of terror or frenzy, instigated by the dramatic action, the spectator will be in a position to understand a new set of truths, superhuman in quality." -Wallace Fowlie

"To be an actor for Artaud is equivalent to suppressing in oneself traits that make one distinct from other men. It is therefore equivalent to a kind of suicide. The last long internment of Artaud was interpreted by the surrealists as purely arbitrary, as a sign of the persecution that society is constantly imposing on revolutionaries and dissidents. However one interprets the terrifying obsessions of Artaud, they allowed him to see into unusual depths of the human mind, where he claimed the eternal questions on life and death are clearly visible." -Wallace Fowlie

"Artaud wanted to see stage gesticulations elevated to the rank of exorcisms. In keeping with the principal tenets of surrealism, Artaud would claim that art is a real experience that goes far beyond human understanding and attempts to reach a metaphysical truth. The artist is always a man inspired who reveals a new aspect of the world." -Wallace Fowlie

"The Theatre of Cruelty has been created in order to restore to the theatre a passionate and convulsive conception of life, and it is in this sense of violent rigour and extreme condensation of scenic elements that the cruelty on which it is based must be understood. This cruelty, which will be bloody when necessary but not systematically so, can thus be identified with a kind of severe moral purity which is not afraid to pay life the price it must be paid."
– Antonin Artaud, The Theatre of Cruelty, in The Theory of the Modern Stage (ed. Eric Bentley), Penguin, 1968, p.66

"It is true that I am indepted to Raymond Roussel for having enabled me, from 1912, to think of something else instead of retinal painting."
-Marcel Ducamp

n. a comically involved, complicated invention, laboriously contrived to perform a simple operation.
- Webster's New World Dictionary

1. the order of events in the play are reversed: in the novel, executions are carried out at the beginning of the story.
2. some plot/characters/machines that were richly described in the novel are completely absent from the theatrical text.
3. completely new characters are added to the play, and they are important players in the production.
   

1. The Earthworm Zither Player: a giant earthworm crawls across the top of the inside of a glass case, releasing drops of heavy, mercury-like water that strike the cords of the instrument. Conducted by Skarioffszky, who built the machine and trained the worm to play. Costume: red, tight-fitting Tzigane Outfit
   
2. The Dwarf Filipino whose normally developed head equals in height the rest of his body: the head of the Filipino is on a platter, the body below. This is handed to the audience by Jenn, the ringmaster. The body is presumably hidden by a second disk.
   
3. The one-legged lelgoualch playing the flute made of his own tibia: Lelgovalch's leg was previously broken and amputated. He plays a flute made of his tibia. Costume: traditional folk
   
4. The wall of dominos evoking priests: Whirligig (a clown) uses dominos, coins, cards to construct three images portraying "a group of revered gentlemen leaving the tower of an old cloister to visit the parish priest in his rectory." This was made by piecing together dominos, and creates an unsupported wall.
   
5. The thermo-mechanic orchestra made of bexium: Bex's invention is a "new metal, chemically endowed...with prodigious thermal sensitivity. It is a new music machine that works through the application of heat and cold.
   
6. The wind clock of Never-Never land: A clock face is cut in thirds, and is run by constant and predictable daily wind currents: "At each horizontal end of the dial are the words 'noon,' in the centre bottom rim 'midnight.' Accordingly, the breeze would blow the solitary hand across the dial, indicateing the time, the east wind changing the west each noon and midnight."
   
7. Cats playing the game of "Prisoners:" Cats are trained by Marius Bucharessas (10 years old). His collection of cats are maked with green or red ribbons on their necks, and they play a game of Prisoner's base in the boundaries established by the boy's foot. Costume: Standard Vaudeville. (note: prisoner's base is a game where two teams capture opposing players by tagging them, and taking them to their own base.)
   
8. Echoing chests of the Alcott brothers: Stephen, the father, yells his own name in 4 syllables: Ste/phen/Al/Cott. This is repeated 6 times at 6 points along a zigzag without any of the participants moving their lips. The voice echoes through the zigzag. This was reportedly made possible due to extreme emaciation, carefully maintained by a rigorous diet: bone-hard surfaces reverberate sound.
   
9. The statue of whale bones from a corset, on rails made from a calf's lung: Norbert and Louise Montalescot are siblings that were previously captured by Talou - to gain their freedom, they must build a body that can run on a rail made by a calf's lung, without breaking it. They construct the body of whale bones from found corsets, as they are light enough to glide over the tracks. The dummy is actuated by Louise's pet crow. Costume: Louise is dressed in military outfit - an officer's pelisse with gold shoulder knots. Hollow surgical needles penetrate her right lung and give rise to a peculiar kind of automatic music upon each effort she makes to breathe.
   
10. Djizme Voluntarily Electrocuted by Lightning: Invented by Bex, the "humane scientist," the machine is an electric bed-table, or a bed lightning-conductor. He was "counting on the rarety of storms in [the region], thereby preventing an execution, Bex places a lighting rod at the head of a copper cradle." As Djizme stretches out, she places her head in the iron cap and feet in metal shoes. Unfortunately, as she does this, a storm approaches.
    
11. Punishment of Pins: Rul is tortured to death for her affair, and her attack on Sirdah. Golden hairpins from her hair are pressed through the eyelets of a red knotted and frayed corset that she wears.
    
12. The Body of the Black King Yaour IX at the foot of a decaying tree, costumed classically as Marguerite in Faust: This is a great celebration of Talou's victory: "supreme humiliation causes Talou's women to frantically undulate." They perform a victory dance while belching (they just ate).