| 英文摘要 |
Antonin Artaud is one of the pioneers who theorizes about the Oriental theatre. His writings on the Balinese theatre are among the most notorious and yet the most fascinating reading of the Oriental theatre. Unlike Jerzy Grotowski’s matter of fact attitude toward the Oriental theatrical traditions, Artaud tends to mythologize the Oriental theatre. Implicit in Artaud’s interpretation of the Balinese theatre, or the Oriental theatre in general, is an attitude to the East which is shaped by certain stereotypical impressions and images of the Orient that prevail in the West. In this paper, I propose to examine Artaud’s use and abuse of the Oriental theatre in his seminal work The Theatre and Its Double. First, I explore the issue of Artaud’s seeing of the Balinese performance at the Colonial Exhibition in Paris in 1931 along with his essay “On the Balinese theatre.” I then discuss the relationship between the Oriental theatre and the “orient-ation” of the Occidental theatre in Artaud. In addition, I call attention to the question of the Other and discuss the complexities of Orientalism as a theory and practice. I analyze in particular the problematics of appropriation and mis-interpretation. The purpose of this paper, however, is not intended to undermine the validity of appropriation, nor to dismiss Artaud’s misunderstandings. Rather, this paper aims to re-evaluate or transvaluate Artaud’s thinking about the Balinese and Oriental theatre and argues that Artaud’s reading of the Oriental theatre is a Foucauldian singular event of interpretation, exposing the dual-nature of Orientalism and the double-bind characteristic of the act of interpretation which contaminates and disseminates its target all at the same time. |