theatre of cruelty

noun

1. a type of theatre advocated by Antonin Artaud in Le Théâtre et son double that seeks to communicate to its audience a sense of pain, suffering, and evil, using gesture, movement, sound, and symbolism rather than language

Example Sentences

He was heavily influenced by Antonin Artaud's ideas for a Theatre of Cruelty, putting on a season of plays in London in 1964.

From BBC

Trump is a figure right out of the Theatre of Cruelty; he just acts out, without any mental inner workings, aside from narcissist necessity.

From The New Yorker

The theatre of cruelty unfolding at the southern border last week was the purest distillation yet of what it means to be governed by a President with no moral center.

From The New Yorker

Sissy Spacek is the bullied teen with telekinetic powers in this parable of bullying and misogyny, which is also a brilliant satire of high school, particularly the prom as a theatre of cruelty and anxiety.

From The Guardian

The appointment of the latter led to the controversial Theatre of Cruelty season in 1964.

From BBC