Throughout history, theater has been central to the artistic realm. Stories told centuries ago with lessons of nobility, morality, courage and patriotism seem to scorn the passage of time and are still being recreated. However, not everyone had a soft spot for this conventional form of theatre. Antonin Artaud, in particular, detested the theater and wanted to reform the way society experienced it. In this article I will examine Artaud's role as a major contributor to modern theater in his attempt to free performance from its false realism, as well as the neoclassical ideals of the bourgeoisie. Typically, when you imagine theater, you often imagine a stage, with three walls and an audience. Artaud was concerned by this vision and recognized the need to create something innovative and in contrast to this conventional perception. Artaud was an actor, poet, playwright and theorist with a desire to create material that "probes questions of abandonment, confinement and creativity... [producing] crucial images of the resurrection of language and life" (1-Barber ). In particular, he firmly believed that “theatre limits itself” (108) and that it needs to “wake up our hearts and nerves” (108). Society separates everyday life from the theater, considering it an imaginary world animated by actors at set times, in a special building where actors and spectators meet, but there is still a disconnect between the two. It is precisely this division, "based on the notion of 'spectacle', of 'mimesis', of 'imitation of life outside life'" (108) that Artaud rejects. Thus he founded the Theater of Cruelty; a concept in which one returns to a more primordial and raw state of mind and body, was his attempt to free the theatre... from paper... from culture. Calling for a reduction in the restrictions imposed by classical works, he repudiated the text and focused exclusively on the primitive aspects of civilization. Overall, Artaud's impact on modern theater is undeniable, and in his own words, “the theater will never be itself again” (108). Works Cited Barber, Stephen. Antonin Artaud blows and bombs. London: Faber and Faber, 1993. Barber, Stephen. The screaming body. Paris: Creation Books, 1999. Goodall, Jane. Artaud and the Gnostic drama. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Jamieson, Lee. Antonin Artaud From theory to practice. London: Greenwich Exchange, 2007. Leach, Robert. Creators of the modern theater An introduction. London: Routledge, 2004.Schumacher, Claude. Artaud on the theatre. London: Methuen Drama, 1989.Sethi, Manohar K.. The Theater of Cruelty. New Delhi: Commonwealth Publishers, 1993.