Although Artaud was periodically in vogue with various artistic and intellectual groups, he was never widely accepted or understood during his lifetime. The Cenci was one of his great disappointments, attacked and reviled by the critical community. As Naomi Greene writes in her book Antonin Artaud: Poet without Words, “The critical reviews were harsh, with the notable exception of Pierre Jean Jouve, who believed that Les Cenci had greatly affected its audience.” Produced five years after the failure of Artaud’s theatre company Théâtre Alfred Jarry, The Cenci closed after just seventeen performances, and its harsh reviews helped to drive Artaud from the theatre for the rest of his life.

Since Artaud’s death in 1948, The Cenci has become increasingly well regarded among critics. It is his only play to espouse the philosophy of the Theatre of Cruelty, which he established in his most famous work, The Theatre and Its Double. By the 1960s, the critical community generally viewed The Cenci as a work of major importance in the development of modern drama. Critics, such as Martin Esslin in his study Antonin Artaud: The Man and His Work, helped to reestablish Artaud’s reputation and place The Cenci into the context of his overall life and career, while critics such as Jacques Derrida have discussed how Artaud’s work relates to later developments in poststructuralist theory.