Pure Theater

Pure art can be defined by the following requirements: the absence of elements that do not belong natively to this type of art—such as literature, poetry or painting in theater—and the absence of a practical goal, meaning that pure theater must be an art in and by itself. The Theater and its Double was written as a call to revolutionize a stagnant form of theater and to turn it into an art form that is more 'pure.' In the book, the author states that theater should not be considered an imitation of the day-to-day life, but rather as the double of another reality that is more dangerous and, in a way, more real than the one that is experienced daily. Artaud's reasoning reverses the common conception that art imitates life. Instead, he asserts that life imitates a transcendental principle which somehow communicates...