Antonin Artaud's seminal work, "The Theatre and Its Double," published in 1938, is a foundational text in 20th-century theatre theory. Artaud vehemently critiques traditional Western theatre, which he perceives as overly reliant on text and psychology, advocating instead for a "Theatre of Cruelty." This radical concept aims to shock and immerse the audience, bypassing intellectual understanding to directly affect the senses and subconscious. He calls for a visceral, ritualistic experience, utilizing sound, light, gesture, and space to evoke primal emotions and confront societal taboos. Artaud's profound and often polemical ideas have significantly influenced avant-garde theatre, performance art, and philosophy, challenging conventional notions of art and reality.