Though many of his works were not produced for the public until after his death—for instance, "Spurt of Blood" (1925) was first produced in 1964, when Peter Brook and Charles Marowitz staged it as part of their "Theatre of Cruelty" season at the Royal Shakespeare Company—he has exerted a strong influence on the development of experimental theatre and performance art. In the introduction to his Selected Works, Susan Sontag asserts that his impact is "so profound" that Western theatre traditions can be divided into two periods – before Artaud and after Artaud".:xxxviii
Artists such as Karen Finley, Spalding Gray, Elizabeth LeCompte, Richard Foreman, Charles Marowitz, Sam Shepard, Joseph Chaikin, Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, and more all named Artaud as one of their influences.
His influence can be seen in:
Barrault's adaptation of Kafka's The Trial (1947).
The Theatre of the Absurd, particularly the works of Jean Genet and Samuel Beckett.
Peter Brook's production of Marat/Sade in 1964, which was performed in New York and Paris, as well as London.
The Living Theatre.
In the winter of 1968, Williams College offered a dedicated intersession class in Artaudian theatre, resulting in a week-long "Festival of Cruelty", under the direction of Keith Fowler. The Festival included productions of The Jet of Blood, All Writing is Pig Shit, and several original ritualized performances, one based on the Texas Tower killings and another created as an ensemble catharsis called The Resurrection of Pig Man.
In Canada, playwright Gary Botting created a series of Artaudian "happenings" from The Aeolian Stringer to Zen Rock Festival, and produced a dozen plays with an Artaudian theme, including Prometheus Re-Bound.
Charles Marowitz's play Artaud at Rodez is about the relationship between Artaud and Dr. Ferdière during Artaud's confinement at the psychiatric hospital in Rodez; the play was first performed in 1976 at the Teatro a Trastavere in Rome.
