French Literature Reviews - 2026

V. Rapti, Ludics in Surrealist Theatre and Beyond
Theatre and Performance

Vassiliki Rapti, Ludics in Surrealist Theatre and Beyond

Ashgate, "Studies in Surrealism" series

April 2013, 200 pages

• EAN13 : 9781409429067.
• $99.95

Publisher's Overview

Taking as its point of departure the complex question of whether Surrealist theatre exists, this book re-examines the much-misunderstood artistic medium of theatre within Surrealism, especially when compared to poetry and painting. This study reconsiders Surrealist theatre specifically from the perspective of ludics—a poetics of play and games—an ideal approach to the Surrealists, whose games blur the boundaries between the 'playful' and the 'serious.' Vassiliki Rapti's aims are threefold: first, to demystify André Breton's controversial attitude toward theatre; second, to do justice to Surrealist theatre by highlighting the unique character that derives from its inherent element of play; and finally, to trace the impact of Surrealist theatre in areas far beyond its generally acknowledged influence on the Theatre of the Absurd—an impact still felt on the contemporary world stage. Beginning with the Surrealists' 'one-into-another' game and its illustration of Breton's ludic dramatic theory, Rapti then examines the traces of this kind of game in the works of a wide variety of Surrealist and post-Surrealist playwrights and stage directors from several different countries and from the 1920s to the present: Roger Vitrac, Antonin Artaud, Günter Berghaus, Nanos Valaoritis, Robert Wilson, and Megan Terry.

Vassiliki Rapti is Preceptor in Modern Greek in the Department of the Classics at Harvard University, USA, where she also serves as Research Fellow in Greek Literature and Language Pedagogy at the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies (Washington, DC).

Surrealism emerged in the early twentieth century as a revolutionary cultural movement rooted in automatism, psychoanalysis, and the liberation of the unconscious from rational constraints. While its manifestations in poetry, manifestos, and visual arts have received extensive critical attention, its theatrical experiments have often been marginalized or viewed through the skeptical pronouncements of its central figures. By examining dramatic texts and performance practices alongside avant-garde games, this study engages with the broader historical effort to re-evaluate the theatrical dimensions of modernist avant-gardes across Europe and the Americas.

The concept of ludics draws upon twentieth-century theories of play and cultural practices, positioning games not merely as leisure but as serious creative methods capable of restructuring artistic expression. Readers interested in the intersections of modernist performance history, avant-garde poetics, and the legacy of theatrical experimentation may find this volume a relevant addition to contemporary discussions on theatricality.