"Ugh" and Artaud

Well, it's the time of the year (late-September/early-October) when I get sick for about a solid week due to the fluctuation of the weather. The congestion and headaches started to kick in on Thursday and although I'm feeling marginally better than I was this weekend, my nose is still a damn faucet (I'm sure you wanted to know that).

HOOONNK! [Snff] HOOONNK! [Snff]

Sorry.

Man, do I not want to be at work right now.

Suffice it to say, I have very little to say at this moment, other than, "Ugh," so in the meantime, I suggest that you check out these three posts (by Allison Croggon, Goerge Hunka and Matt Johnston) about Antonin Artaud.

From Allison's post:

"What makes Artaud different from most mentally ill people is that, in what is almost a contradiction in terms, he was coldly conscious of his madness, and was capable of describing it with an almost savagely clinical intelligence. He never romanticised his sickness: he experienced it as horror and obliteration, and his experiments in theatre and mysticism were in part driven by a desire for transformation, for a resolution of the polarities that tormented him."

From George's:

"Blood and human organs and fluids were of course a part of the work of Antonin Artaud...though the Theatre of Cruelty invests the Guignol with a spiritual scream. Artaud is ever present in the theatre of Grotowski, Barker and Kane, but somehow Artaud straight up seems an impossibility."

From Matt's:

"...Artaud's ideas are absolutely essential to an understanding of the progression of 20th century theatre. The very impracticality of his work sets him apart from his contemporaries as one who lived so thoroughly in his imagination. And in a strangely paradoxical way his ideas, even if not realized, had the potential to inspire and create change. And they did in fact do just that from the Artaudian moment on."

Check them out.

I do remember a few years ago when Pete, Patrick and I were excited to see a production of Ataud's Spurt of Blood (staged by the [alas] now-defunct Stages 5150), since it was considered to be by many a completely unstagable play. Although relying a bit too much on the Ann Bogart "Viewpoints" exercises, it was still a fun and interesting experience seeing the group put on a full-length show based on a page-and-a-half script.

Anyway, when I feel a bit better, I'll actually write some of my own thoughts (on this or at least some sort of subject).

Reaching for the Kleenex,

James "HOOONNK! [Snff]" Comtois