page_title: Theatre of the Grotesque
section_title: Mikhail Bakhtin
hierarchical_section_title: Theatre of the Grotesque / Influential practitioners and works / Practitioners / Mikhail Bakhtin
caption_attribution_description: English: Bakhtin in the twenties. Español: Mijaíl Bajtín en los años '20.
context_page_description: The Theatre of the Grotesque was a twentieth-century dramatic movement. It is a theatrical style that was developed as a derivative to the late eighteenth-century art movement 'Grotesque' and thus translates the themes and images of the grotesque art into theatrical practices.
  'Theatre of the Grotesque' rejects naturalism through surreal comedy, reconciling conventionally conflicting concepts. This style of theatre was popularised globally in the early twentieth century through a strong presence in the Italian theatre scene. 'Theatre of the Grotesque' reached its global peak of prominence in the mid-twentieth century.
  Despite not being frequently produced in pure form in contemporary theatre, 'Theatre of the Grotesque' has remained influential in theatre since its inception boasting a clear legacy in both style and practice. Specifically, 'Theatre of the Grotesque' is credited with being the precursor to major contemporary theatrical styles, 'Theatre of the Absurd', and 'Black Comedy'.
context_section_description: Mikhail Bakhtin was a prevalent Russian philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, and academic who developed the concept of Theatre of the Grotesque academically and philosophically. Bakhtin's work on carnivalesque and grotesque realism encouraged detachment from the conventional through an emphasis on the Grotesque bodily experience. These theories were communicated through his 1965 book 'Rabelais and His World' and have become one of the key theoretical explanations of Theatre of the Grotesque. Despite Bakhtin not contributing directly to Theatre of the Grotesque, his philosophical and academic works on the concept have helped to define and give recognition to the style.
caption: Mikhail Bakhtin, 1920s
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