100,000+ Books, Games & Puzzles in-stock 🇳🇿

Overnight NZ-wide delivery on in-stock orders 🚀

The Theatre and its Double

Series: Theatre Makers
Brief Description
In The Theatre and Its Double, first published in 1938, Antonin Artaud puts forward his radical theories on drama and theatre, which he saw as being stifled by conservatism and a lack of experimentation. Containing the famous manifestos of the ‘Theatre of Cruelty’, this collection of... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$3899
AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 4-6 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

In The Theatre and Its Double, first published in 1938, Antonin Artaud puts forward his radical theories on drama and theatre, which he saw as being stifled by conservatism and a lack of experimentation.

Containing the famous manifestos of the ‘Theatre of Cruelty’, this collection of essays analyses the underlying impulses of performance, provides suggestions on a physical-training method for actors, and features a long appreciation of the expressive values of Eastern dance drama.

This new English translation of Artaud's canonical text by Mark Taylor-Batty retains the idiosyncratic nature of the author's writing, communicating its fervour and ambition, while achieving a much-needed clarity.

Through doing so, it facilitates a fuller appreciation of Artaud’s artistic objectives and the original context in which they grew, aided by a newly translated set of his notes and drafts, and a selection of letters to his publisher, friends and associates concerning the book's genesis and the evolution of the concept of a ‘Theatre of Cruelty’.

The commentary further contextualizes this material within Artaud’s broader oeuvre, from his collaboration with the Surrealist group through to his plans to stage his own adaptation of Percy Shelley’s Les Cenci in 1935.

A welcome addition to any theatre-lover's or student's bookshelf, this translation of Artaud’s classic text offers clear and faithful insights into Artaud's theatre.

Series: Theatre Makers

View all
  • The Moving Body (Le Corps Poétique)
    In life, I want students to be alive and on stage I want them to be artists - Jacques Lecoq Jacques Lecoq was one of the most inspirational theatre teachers of our age. In The Moving Body, he shares with us first-hand his unique philosophy of performance, improvisation, masks, movement, and gesture, which together form one of the greatest influences...
    Paperback
    $3899
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Paris Manuscript
    In the early 1930s, during his first years of exile and 20 years before the publication of his seminal work To the Actor, Michael Chekhov made his first incursion into the challenging task of writing about an actor’s experience and his vision of the craft. This important, though largely forgotten, work (the so-called Paris Manuscript) was handwritten in German. In...
    Paperback
    $4399
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Revolutionary Messages
    Published here in its entirety in English, Artaud’s Revolutionary Messages collects Antonin Artaud’s political, aesthetic, and philosophical writings during his travels to Mexico in 1936. Written around the same time as his seminal work The Theatre and its Double, it captures a crucial point in Artaud's life shortly before he was admitted to a mental asylum in which he was...
    Paperback
    $5199
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Notes from a Working-Class Playwright
    Award-winning British playwright Leo Butler looks back over 25 years of writing for the stage and his extensive experience teaching and mentoring emerging playwrights through the Royal Court Young Writers' Programme. With honesty and humour, Leo Butler shares his experiences from his working-class upbringing in Sheffield, including his disastrous state education, his years on the dole, to his breakthrough into...
    Paperback
    $4999
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Theatre and its Double
    In The Theatre and Its Double, first published in 1938, Antonin Artaud puts forward his radical theories on drama and theatre, which he saw as being stifled by conservatism and a lack of experimentation. Containing the famous manifestos of the ‘Theatre of Cruelty’, this collection of essays analyses the underlying impulses of performance, provides suggestions on a physical-training method for...
    Paperback
    $3899
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Dramaturgy of Space
    In Ramón Griffero’s seminal work, The Dramaturgy of Space, the playwright and director describes his aesthetic philosophy and theoretical approach to theatrical creation, illustrating his theory through practical application in a series of exercises. As well as touching upon some of Griffero’s own work, like Cinema Utopia (1985), Tus deseos en fragmentos (2003), Fin del eclipse (2007) and El azar...
    Paperback
    $5199
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Notes from the Rehearsal Room
    Renowned theatre and film director Nancy Meckler delves into her hugely varied experiences in the rehearsal room and shares examples of tried-and-tested “tools” to bring a play to life. Meckler encourages you to interrogate, play, experiment and to use her methods as a starting point to begin creating your own unique directing toolkit and finding your own style. The examples...
    Paperback
    $4500
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • The Art of Resonance
    What is artistic resonance and how can it be linked to one's life and one's art? This latest book of essays from legendary theatre director Anne Bogart considers the creation of resonance in the artistic endeavour, with a focus on the performing arts. The word 'resonance' comes from the Latin meaning to 're-sound' or 'sound together'. From music to physics,...
    Paperback
    $4099
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • Theatre Across Borders
    Is there a fundamental connection between New York's Elevator Repair Service's 9-hour production of The Great Gatsby and a Kathakali performance? How can we come to appreciate the slowness of Kabuki theatre as much as the pace of the Whatsapp theatre of post-Arab Spring Turkey? Can we go beyond our own culture's contemporary definition of a 'good play' and think...
    Paperback
    $5499
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781350288713

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 22 February 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Methuen Drama

Contributors:

  • Translated by Mark Taylor-Batty
  • Edited by Mark Taylor-Batty

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 26.0mm

Width: 136.0mm

Height: 214.0mm

Weight: 291g

Pages: 280

About the Author

Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) (author) was a French dramatist, poet, essayist, actor and theatre director, widely recognized as one of the major figures of twentieth-century theatre and the European avant-garde.

Mark Taylor-Batty (translator) is Professor of Theatre and Performance at the University of Leeds, UK. His previous publications include The Theatre of Harold Pinter (Bloomsbury, 2014), About Pinter: The Playwright and the Work (2005), Roger Blin: Collaborations and Methodologies (2007) and, co-authored with his wife Juliette Taylor-Batty, Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (2009).

Also by Antonin Artaud

View all
  • Last Writings of Antonin Artaud
    The last writings of Antonin Artaud published in English and brought together in one edition for the first time. Last Writings of Antonin Artaud encompasses the work of Artaud during the final years of his life, spanning from his time in the psychiatric hospital of Rodez to his last month of freedom before his death in March 1948. Throughout this...
    Set
    $19099
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Revolutionary Messages
    Published here in its entirety in English, Artaud’s Revolutionary Messages collects Antonin Artaud’s political, aesthetic, and philosophical writings during his travels to Mexico in 1936. Written around the same time as his seminal work The Theatre and its Double, it captures a crucial point in Artaud's life shortly before he was admitted to a mental asylum in which he was...
    Paperback
    $5199
    Available
    Ships in 4-6 weeks
  • "Here Lies" preceded by "The Indian Culture"
    Here Lies preceded by The Indian Culture collects two of Antonin Artaud’s foremost poetic works from the last period of his life. He wrote both works soon after his release from the psychiatric hospital of Rodez and his return to Paris, and they were published during the flurry of intensive activity and protests against the censorship of his work. The...
    Paperback
    $2899
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • "The Human Face" and Other Writings on His Drawings
    The Human Face and Other Writings on His Drawings is the first comprehensive collection in English of Antonin Artaud’s writings on his artworks. The many major exhibitions of Antonin Artaud’s drawings and drawn notebook pages in recent years—at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Vienna’s Museum Moderner Kunst, and Paris’s Centre Georges Pompidou—have entirely transformed our perception of his work,...
    Paperback
    $3399
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Watchfiends and Rack Screams
    Antonin Artaud's last large-scale work, published in its complete form in English for the first time. Drawing on texts and letters dating from 1946, some of them written while he was still confined at the Rodez psychiatric hospital, Artaud devoted the months of November 1946 to February 1947 to completing his book through a long series of vocal improvisations titled...
    Paperback
    $4799
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks
  • Radio Works: 1946–48
    Following his release from the Rodez asylum, Antonin Artaud decided he wanted his new work to connect with a vast public audience, and he chose to record radio broadcasts in order to carry through that aim. That determination led him to his most experimental and incendiary project, To Have Done with the Judgement of God, 1947-48, in which he attempted...
    Paperback
    $3999
    Available
    Ships in 3-4 weeks

More from Arts & Culture

View all
  • Dylan's Pick
    Bold Types
    A tribute to 32 truly independent bookshops throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, from north of Auckland down to Dunedin, and coast to coast. Jane Ussher's photographs show every bookstore in its unique nature - including behind the counter, smoko rooms, the mess which tells the hardworking story behind the joy of matching books with customers. Jemma Moreira's careful editing has crafted...
    Hardback
    $5500
    Elsewhere:
    $7000
    Available
    Ships in 1 week
  • Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    New Release
    Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook
    Embark on a culinary adventure with Moana of Motunui with Pacific recipes inspired by Moana and Moana 2! After a long day of sailing to see how far you’ll go or keeping the demigod Maui out of trouble with Te Fiti, catch a break with the delicious dishes in Moana: The Official Cookbook! Featuring more than 50 recipes spanning the...
    Hardback
    $4499
    Elsewhere:
    $5299
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • This Angry Pen of Mine
    This Angry Pen of Mine by Layne Staley invites you to dive into the untold creative world of Layne Staley, the legendary voice behind Alice in Chains. This extraordinary collection showcases his handwritten lyrics, deeply personal poetry, stunning original artwork, rare photos, fan tributes, and so much more. Step into the world of Layne Staley like never before. For the...
    Hardback
    $7299
    Elsewhere:
    $8999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • They Bloom Because of You
    Bestselling author and Instagram sensation Jessica Urlichs returns with a new collection of beautifully observed poems about the ever-evolving journey of motherhood - the hard, the magic and the fleeting. ‘A raw and honest read that makes you feel seen and understood in a way that will bring you to tears.’ - Hilary Swank ‘A book to keep close and...
    Paperback
    $3000
    Elsewhere:
    $3600
    (1)
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Leaves of Grass
    A collectible new Penguin Classics series offers beautiful, slim, clothbound editions of ten favourite poets. In 1855, Walt Whitman published his first collection of poetry, Leaves of Grass. The volume received great praise from leading Transcendentalist poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. This encouragement led to what would become a lifelong project, as Whitman expanded and rewrote the volume until his death...
    Hardback
    $2200
    Elsewhere:
    $2400
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Great Writers and the Cats who Owned Them
    Throughout history, cats and writers have bonded together in a magical combination of comfort, companionship and inspiration. The famous authors featured here range from Samuel Johnson, whose cat Hodge dined on oysters, and Edward Lear, whose charismatic cat Foss was missing half his tail, to Margaret Mitchell, L. M. Montgomery and Dorothy L. Sayers, who rescued her kitten Blitz from...
    Hardback
    $3999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Beautiful Chaos
    The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller Selected poems from bestselling author and Instagram poet, Jessica Urlichs. 'These words awaken the magic of life by celebrating the ordinary.' - Giovanna Fletcher Motherhood is messy and beautiful, and hard and humbling. We adore our children and sometimes we miss ourselves. Beautiful Chaos is a collection of raw, honest poems about motherhood, capturing everything...
    Paperback
    $2900
    Elsewhere:
    $3500
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • The Odyssey
    Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty and power; about marriage and family; about travellers, hospitality, and the yearning for home. This fresh, authoritative translation captures the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the drama of its narrative....
    By Homer
    Paperback
    Sold Out
  • To the Women - The New Collection of Wise Words Every Woman Needs
    THE COMPLETELY UPDATED COLLECTION WITH OVER 70 BRAND NEW POEMS, FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF WILD HOPE AND WORDS TO LIVE BY 'Amazing . . . Donna's words speak to my heart' Davina McCall To the Women is a celebration of the beauty, strength, and joy of being a woman. A love letter to our deep capacity...
    Hardback
    $2999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Wreck This Journal: Now in Colour
    The creative journey continues with Wreck This Journal: Now in Colour by Keri Smith, the latest and most vibrant edition of the groundbreaking series that redefined journaling. Celebrating its 10th anniversary, this edition brings the playful destructiveness of the original to life in dazzling full colour, adding a dynamic new dimension to the beloved prompts. Whether you're a seasoned Wreck-er,...
    Paperback
    $2500
    Elsewhere:
    $2800
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • A Thousand Feasts
    THE INSTANT #1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER From award-winning writer Nigel Slater, comes a new and exquisitely written collection of notes, memoir, stories and small moments of joy. 'Nigel Slater’s prose is the rarest delicacy of all: exquisite yet effortless, filled with heart, tenderness, yearning and humour' ELIZABETH DAY For years, Nigel Slater has kept notebooks of curiosities and wonderings, penned...
    Paperback
    $2999
    In Stock
    Ships today
  • Did I Ever Tell You This?
    In this unexpected memoir, written in a creative burst of just a few months in 2022, Sam Neill tells the story of how he became one of the world’s most celebrated actors, who has worked with everyone from Meryl Streep to Isabel Adjani, from Jeff Goldblum to Sean Connery, from Steven Spielberg to Jane Campion. By his own account, his...
    Paperback
    Sold Out

Why buy from us?

Book Hero is not a chain store or big box retailer. We're an independent 100% NZ-owned business on a mission to help more Kiwis rediscover a love of books and reading!

Service & Delivery

Service & Delivery

Our warehouse in Auckland holds over 100,000 books, toys, board games and puzzles in-stock so you're not waiting for your order to arrive from overseas.

Auckland Bookstore

Auckland Bookstore

We're primarily an online store, but for your convenience you can pick up your order for free from our bookstore, which is right next door to our warehouse in Hobsonville.

Our Gifting Service

Our Gifting Service

Books make wonderful thoughtful gifts and we're here to help with gift-wrapping and cards. We can even send your gift directly to your loved one.