SOURCE: Clurman, Harold. Review of The Living Theatre. Nation 207, no. 14 (28 October 1968): 445.

In the following review, Clurman argues that The Living Theatre is a cult, not a theater.

There are more than a few people in Europe and America who believe that the company known as The Living Theatre (Brooklyn Academy of Music) is making a vital contribution to the theatre. Having seen three of its four presentations I judge that Le Living (as the French call it) is more concerned with “living” than with theatre.

The company disarms criticism. Its productions are a way of life, closer to religious manifestations than to either art or entertainment. Though it borrows haphazardly from various arts and artists. The Living Theatre is anti-art. One cannot blandly declare that its performances are boring because they lack measure, every turn, scene and sound being prolonged to our breaking point: “rituals” are always enervating...