Spurt of Blood, written by the infamous French playwright Antonin Artuad, is a short play that explores themes of cruelty, apocalyptic sentiments, and the desecration of the world by its people. In this project, I aimed to uncover how Artaud’s “theatre of cruelty” could be adapted into film. To understand this complex work, I researched Artaud’s theories, his Gnosticism, peer-reviewed commentaries on the original play and the practice of theatre of cruelty itself. My production company Critique Theatre Company produced this film adaptation with the assistance of the Saint Louis Theatre Department and Equally Represented Arts.

Emma would like to thank her faculty sponsor Lucy Cashion for her help in this endeavor.