Artaud's cherished dream was to found a new kind of theatre in France that would not be an artistic spectacle, but a communion between spectators and actors. This volume contains all of Artaud's key writings on theatre and cinema from 1921 to his death in 1948, together with a definitive commentary on the key texts of this 20th-century theatre visionary.

Although his potent theories were never successfully realised during his own tortured lifetime, his revolutionary ideas have inspired the work of Genet, Arrabal, The Living Theatre, Grotowski, Brook and most experimental drama and performance work of the last decades.

"Artaud was one of the most influential figures in European theatre , one of the great, daring mapmakers of the consciousness in extremis." Susan Sontag

"For Artaud, the actor is the victim at the stake desperately signalling through the flames." Peter Brook