Download or read book Avant Garde Theatre, 1892-1992 written by Christopher Innes and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In examining the development of avant garde theatre from its inception in the 1890s to the present day, the author exposes a central paradox of modern theatre; that the motivating force of theatrical experimentation is primitivism. What links the work of Strindberg, Artaud, Brook and Mnouchkine is an idealization of the elemental and a desire to find ritual in archaic traditions. This widespread primitivism, he argues, is the key to understanding both the political and aesthetic aspects of modern theatre and provides fresh insights into contemporary social trends.