The Theatre Of Death

Abstract

According to Gordon Craig, somewhere along the banks of the Ganges two women forced their way into the shrine of the Divine Marionette, which was jealously hiding the secrets of the true THEATRE. They envied the ROLE of this Perfect Being in illuminating human intellect with the sacred feeling of the existence of God, its GLORY; they spied on its Movements and Gestures, its sumptuous attire and, by cheap parody, began to satisfy the vulgar taste of the mob. At the moment when they finally ordered a similar monument built for themselves - the modern theatre, as we know it only too well and as it has lasted to this day , was born. A clamorous Public Service Institute. With it appeared the ACTOR. Indefence of his theory Craig cites the opinion of Eleanor Duse: “to save the theatre, it must be destroyed, it is necessary for all actors and actresses to die of plague . . . for it is they who render art impossible... .”