Artaud...

Kate (drama teacher from my home institution in Buffalo) writes:
Perhaps eliciting a visceral response from the audience with his "Theatre of Cruelty" provided them with a cathartic effect, but I think it's possible that theatre had become awfully "pretty" by this time, and most audiences only wanted to be entertained. Did Artaud shock to "heal" or to "wake up" his audiences? Did electro-shock therapy "heal" him? Just musing.

This is exactly how I understand Artaud. This healing would be like the healing one might receive after one is "ridden" by a loa in the myriad of Yoruba derived animist religions in Brazil and the Caribbean (Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Louisiana). Another may liken the feeling as being on a drug induced "trip". One of my fellow seminar participants felt that when the images were projected on screens during last night's performance, they moved as one imagines the vision of one who is on a "trip"--like Artaud's three day experience on peyote. Artaud felt that his Theater of Cruelty should be about producing this hallucinatory effect.

My question: Is this the type of theater the masses would want to watch? After long hours of work and the desire to unwind, is this the kind of "entertainment" one seeks?
And yet, the rituals found in religious ceremonies such as masses, or other rituals can be healing for some...

Clearly, this type of theater isn't for everyone, but who pays for such work? Sigh. Then there is "reality t.v.", or Spanish language telenovelas...gosh...The Sopranos! 24...Kabuki theater...yes, I dare put them all in the same category because for their adherents, this provides a sort of transcendence or trance--or as you say, cathartic effect which allows them to go on with their lives...or the trance...?
I guess, there is something for everyone.

MUST STOP NOW!