Victor ou les enfants au pouvoir : l’échec du Surréalisme en scène

Abstract

The marginal role of theater in surrealist research is underscored by the movement’s limited dramatic output. Among the few plays produced is Victor or Power to the Children by Roger Vitrac, which—according to leading critics such as Matthews, Han, and Knapp—stands as the most accomplished example of surrealist drama. However, when Vitrac wrote Victor, he had already distanced himself from the movement for three years and was actively involved in the Théâtre Alfred Jarry, a project often criticized by Breton. This paper explores Victor or Power to the Children as a radical critique of Surrealism. To this end, it analyzes the play’s two protagonists, Victor and Ida, who embody two key surrealist archetypes: the artist-child and the muse.