"In the true theatre a play disturbs the senses' repose, frees the repressed unconscious, incites a kind of virtual revolution (which moreover can have its full effect only if it remains virtual), and imposes on the assembled collectivity an attitude that is both difficult and heroic." - Antonin Artaud, "Theatre and The Plague" (from The Theatre and Its Double)
Yes, Artaud was disturbed and died in a psychiatric clinic, but he's still one of the more influential theatrical thinkers of the early 20th century. Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade seems clearly influenced by Artaud.
