Machines théâtrales et hommes-machine sur les planches de l’entre-deux-guerres: du théâtre futuriste au théâtre de l’existence de Jean-Victor Pellerin

In the inter-war period, many plays relate about a mechanised world, with antithetic reactions and feelings. In some cases, progress in techniques and lifestyles is exalted. In other cases, scare after World War 1 massacres and fear towards the identity of a robotic man in a technologically-dominated reality are expressed. Globalisation, automation, standardisation in production and routine are expressed by words, monologues, gestures, costumes and stage effects. In this paper, the identity of a modern, mechanised man is analysed under two different perspectives. Futurist theatre, notably Enrico Prampolini’s productions in Paris, seem to promote modernity by the exploitation of all sorts of machines and robots. The “Théâtre de l’existence” represented by Jean-Victor Pellerin, instead, uses machines to relate about miserable, obsessed people, embedded as they are in an alienating routine. Thus, playwrights and stage directors discuss the fundamental existential questions in the “âge de l’inquiétude”.