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Abstract
Paul Claudel's rejection of the tired theater conventions with which he found himself saddled was indicative of a desire to create a new form of theater. The ambiguity or interpenetration of genres thus characterizes the works of Claudel, and was also the hallmark of modernists. But hommes de théâtre like Claudel believed that theater and art in general could fulfill a similar function as religion - one of social integration. The playwright emphasized and assimilated technical devices more than Far Eastern philosophic content. Claudel attempted to transfer Catholic myth into a Japanese Noh structure; he chose myths he believed his audience would share. Claudel attempted to capture the ritual form of Asian theater and create what might be considered a singularly French form of literature, celebrating through ritual his own brand of Catholic mysticism. Thus the liturgical structure of his plays was not neutral. It introduced a theatricality in which the stage overruns its limits and changes the nature of theater. The playwright dreamed of defying French genre distinctions, overwhelming the public's senses with music, cinema, and movement. The myth of a communal theater is exemplified in Claudel's integral-arts productions. Although Claudel's ideal theater model incorporated dance, music, marionettes, film, and mime, he never abandoned his texts. The literary side was in fact one more element among others in his integral-arts theater. Claudel frequently used multi-media elements to imbed a self-awareness in his works, or at least create a performance no longer dependant upon theatrical illusion.
