The Art Of The Artaudian Theatre In India
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European theatre during the last century witnessed several innovations in theatrics and dramaturgy. Moving away from the canons of illusionary theatre of Aristotle, these theatres experimented with the techniques used ranging from dialogue and music to the participation of the audience in plays. One of the major innovation was that the change of audience from the role of mere spectators to that of the enactors. Theatre of Cruelty propounded by the French playwright Antonin Artaud was a major experimental theatre of this kind. This paper concentrates more on the theatrical techniques used by Artaud and not on the dramatic literature. Experiencing and experimenting Artaudian theatre reveals that it has several parallels in the traditional theatre of India, particularly the ritual theatre. Both have been deconstructing violence. Ritual theatre tradition of India includes several representations that take place mostly in the premises of worship. Theyyam, Padayani, Mudiyettu etc., in Kerala represents how there is an application of these techniques and its parallels and similarities in the West. Make-up and costumes of ritual theatre has similarities to the masks used in Artaud’s theatre. Dialogues have limited patronage. Both theatres make a wide usage of surrealistic techniques, incantation cries and haunts. Audience participation makes the theatrical experience more effective and has an undertone of therapeutic experience for the spectators. There has also been an attempt to