Preface: Theater and Culture Summary and Analysis

The Theater and its Double is a collection of essays by French author and actor Antonin Artaud written in the 1920s and 1930s. The book itself was first published in French in 1938. In The Theater and its Double, the author tries to establish a basic theory that is meant to redefine the art of theater using a radical and revolutionary approach, relying mostly on the art of 'mise en scène,' a French expression that refers to everything in theater that should be managed in order to produce a play on a stage including direction, production and staging. The book establishes a relationship between theater and life (reality). In Artaud's mind, theater and reality are two entities that live in separate spheres; as such, they double each other (hence the title of the book...