Tristan Tzara, Cabaret Voltaire and Dada: A Theatrical Avant-Garde, 1916-1924

Abstract

This essay examines Dada in its performative and theatrical form as practised in Zurich from 1916 by Cabaret Voltaire and subsequently by Tristan Tzara in post-war Paris from 1920. Amongst Cabaret Voltaire personnel, Hugo Ball's 'sound poetry' performances and Richard Huelsenbeck's political variation of Dada in Berlin are also considered, alongside the influence of F. T. Marinetti and Futurism on Dada in its early phases. Tzara's 'Dada Manifesto 1918' is analysed as an exercise in non-determination of Dada as a coherent movement, even as it functioned as a calculated piece of self-promotion. As Tzara took Dada to Paris, his association with André Breton and Francis Picabia is traced through notable Dada 'manifestations' and selected publications, with the legacy of Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi commemorated by both Tzara and Breton. Dada was a short-lived sensation in the Parisian avant-garde; the fracturing of the collaboration between Tzara and Breton is detailed in the mock-trial of Maurice Barrès and the disastrous second performance of Tzara's The Gas Heart in 1923. Breton's subsequent ‘Manifesto of Surrealism‘ of 1924 has often been seen to override Dada, with Breton's tight definition and policing of the movement demonstrating very different priorities from Tzara's. In conclusion, Antonin Artaud is considered as a proponent of surrealism in theatre with The Spurt of Blood (1925), and it is suggested that a combination of Artaud's and Tzara's versions of Dada still speaks to and influences many forms of contemporary performance.