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Jet of Blood
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Jet of Blood
Jet of Blood (Jet de Sang), also known as Spurt of Blood, is an extremely short play by the French theatre practitioner, Antonin Artaud, who was also the founder of the "Theatre of Cruelty" movement. Jet of Blood was completed in Paris, on January 17, 1925, perhaps in its entirety on that day alone. The original title was Jet de Sang ou la Boule de Verre, but the second half of the title was dropped prior to the first publication and production of the work.
The play begins with the Young Man and the Young Girl onstage. They declare their love for one another multiple times, in a variety of absurd ways. Then, a hurricane separates the two young lovers. Two stars crash into each other, causing a series of dismembered human body parts to rain down on the stage. As more items fall down, they are to fall more and more slowly. Then, three scorpions, a frog, and a beetle. After reacting to this, the Young Man and Young Girl exit.
The characters of the Knight and the Nurse (or Wet-Nurse) enter. The Knight is wearing a suit of armor from the Middle Ages and the Nurse has enormous swollen breasts. It is implied that these two are the parents of the Young Girl and are somehow related to the Young Man as well. The Nurse claims that she is watching the Young Man and Young Girl "screwing" and that it is "incest." She throws pieces of Swiss cheese wrapped in paper at the Knight who picks them off the ground and eats them. The Nurse and the Knight exit.
The Young Man returns and describes his surroundings at the town square, naming the town's characters as they appear on stage. The Priest asks the Young Man about his corporeal body, and the Young Man replies by turning the conversation back to God. The Priest says, in a Swiss accent, that he is less interested in God than in the "dirty little stories we hear in the confessional." The young man agrees, and following there is another violent spectacle including an earthquake with thunder, lightning, and general panic. A giant hand appears and grabs the Whore's hair, which bursts into flames. A Thunderous Voice says, "Bitch, look at your body," after which the Whore's dress becomes transparent and her body appears hideous and naked underneath. In turn, she bids God leave her and she bites the wrist of the hand, sending an immense jet of blood across the stage.
The lights come up and almost everyone is dead and scattered across the stage. The Young Man and the Whore are still alive and they are mid-coitus and "devouring each other with their eyes". The Nurse enters carrying the body of the Young Girl, which hits the ground and is "flat as a pancake." The Nurse's chest has become completely flat as well. The Knight enters demanding more cheese and the Nurse responds by lifting her dress. The Young Man says, "Don’t hurt Mommy" as though he is suspended in the air like a marionette. The Knight covers his face as scorpions crawl out from the Nurse's vagina. Depending on the translation, the scorpions swarm onto either the Nurse's or the Knight's genitalia, which swells up and bursts or splits, becoming glassy/transparent and shining like the sun.
The Young Man and the Whore run away. The Young Girl wakes up dazed and says the final line of the play, "The Virgin! Ah, so that’s what he was looking for."
The final stage direction is simply, "Curtain."
Artaud presents a fantastic temporal spectrum of creation and destruction speeded up and slowed down, like a phonograph record. Associating gluttony and lust, sex and violence, even innocence and swinishness, The Spurt of Blood attacks the senses with bizarre sights and sounds as it reaches toward our subconscious impulses and fears. (Cardullo and Knoff 2001, 377)
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Jet of Blood
Jet of Blood (Jet de Sang), also known as Spurt of Blood, is an extremely short play by the French theatre practitioner, Antonin Artaud, who was also the founder of the "Theatre of Cruelty" movement. Jet of Blood was completed in Paris, on January 17, 1925, perhaps in its entirety on that day alone. The original title was Jet de Sang ou la Boule de Verre, but the second half of the title was dropped prior to the first publication and production of the work.
The play begins with the Young Man and the Young Girl onstage. They declare their love for one another multiple times, in a variety of absurd ways. Then, a hurricane separates the two young lovers. Two stars crash into each other, causing a series of dismembered human body parts to rain down on the stage. As more items fall down, they are to fall more and more slowly. Then, three scorpions, a frog, and a beetle. After reacting to this, the Young Man and Young Girl exit.
The characters of the Knight and the Nurse (or Wet-Nurse) enter. The Knight is wearing a suit of armor from the Middle Ages and the Nurse has enormous swollen breasts. It is implied that these two are the parents of the Young Girl and are somehow related to the Young Man as well. The Nurse claims that she is watching the Young Man and Young Girl "screwing" and that it is "incest." She throws pieces of Swiss cheese wrapped in paper at the Knight who picks them off the ground and eats them. The Nurse and the Knight exit.
The Young Man returns and describes his surroundings at the town square, naming the town's characters as they appear on stage. The Priest asks the Young Man about his corporeal body, and the Young Man replies by turning the conversation back to God. The Priest says, in a Swiss accent, that he is less interested in God than in the "dirty little stories we hear in the confessional." The young man agrees, and following there is another violent spectacle including an earthquake with thunder, lightning, and general panic. A giant hand appears and grabs the Whore's hair, which bursts into flames. A Thunderous Voice says, "Bitch, look at your body," after which the Whore's dress becomes transparent and her body appears hideous and naked underneath. In turn, she bids God leave her and she bites the wrist of the hand, sending an immense jet of blood across the stage.
The lights come up and almost everyone is dead and scattered across the stage. The Young Man and the Whore are still alive and they are mid-coitus and "devouring each other with their eyes". The Nurse enters carrying the body of the Young Girl, which hits the ground and is "flat as a pancake." The Nurse's chest has become completely flat as well. The Knight enters demanding more cheese and the Nurse responds by lifting her dress. The Young Man says, "Don’t hurt Mommy" as though he is suspended in the air like a marionette. The Knight covers his face as scorpions crawl out from the Nurse's vagina. Depending on the translation, the scorpions swarm onto either the Nurse's or the Knight's genitalia, which swells up and bursts or splits, becoming glassy/transparent and shining like the sun.
The Young Man and the Whore run away. The Young Girl wakes up dazed and says the final line of the play, "The Virgin! Ah, so that’s what he was looking for."
The final stage direction is simply, "Curtain."
Artaud presents a fantastic temporal spectrum of creation and destruction speeded up and slowed down, like a phonograph record. Associating gluttony and lust, sex and violence, even innocence and swinishness, The Spurt of Blood attacks the senses with bizarre sights and sounds as it reaches toward our subconscious impulses and fears. (Cardullo and Knoff 2001, 377)