Ar·taud (är-t??), Antonin 1896-1948. French surrealist poet and playwright who advocated a deliberately shocking and confrontational style of drama he called “Theatre of Cruelty.”American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.Artaud (French arto) n (Biography) Antonin (??t?n??). 1896?1948, French stage director and dramatist, whose concept of the theatre of cruelty is expounded in Manifeste du théâtre de la cruauté (1932) and Le Théâtre et son double (1938)Collins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014