Poor theatre
Grotowski:
- Born in august 1933 in Poland
- Painter/sculptor father
- Teacher mother
- WW2 – flee
- Brother, mother and Grotowski - farm in Krakow
- Uncle (bishop) – spiritual awakenings
- Serious illness at 16 – meditation and reading
- Year in hospital – pursue career in theatre
- Academy of Stage Craft in Moscow
- Learnt – Meyerhold, vakhtangov, Stanislavsky
- Influenced by – Stanislavsky, existentialism, Marxism, Buddhism
Grotowski’s intentions:
Existential philosophy affected Grotowski. He began questioning the nature of
theatre at the time. He wanted to identify the true essence and aimed to answer
the question:
WHAT IS THEATRE?
He was dissatisfied with theatre at the time:
- Believing it to be trying too hard to copy television and film
- Recognized that theatre will always remain technologically inferior
- Believed that theatre should be brought back to its original roots
- Wanted to discover what theatre could offer to audiences that technology
could not
Polish laboratory theatre:
Grotowski was the founder of the Polish Laboratory Theatre
- Experimental company
- Place of research
- Actors explored potential in themselves and texts
- Experiments conducted and observations made
The group did not attempt to perform a wide variety of works but concentrated
on a limited number of pieces which that constantly reinterpreted and
rediscovered.
Grotowski:
- Born in august 1933 in Poland
- Painter/sculptor father
- Teacher mother
- WW2 – flee
- Brother, mother and Grotowski - farm in Krakow
- Uncle (bishop) – spiritual awakenings
- Serious illness at 16 – meditation and reading
- Year in hospital – pursue career in theatre
- Academy of Stage Craft in Moscow
- Learnt – Meyerhold, vakhtangov, Stanislavsky
- Influenced by – Stanislavsky, existentialism, Marxism, Buddhism
Grotowski’s intentions:
Existential philosophy affected Grotowski. He began questioning the nature of
theatre at the time. He wanted to identify the true essence and aimed to answer
the question:
WHAT IS THEATRE?
He was dissatisfied with theatre at the time:
- Believing it to be trying too hard to copy television and film
- Recognized that theatre will always remain technologically inferior
- Believed that theatre should be brought back to its original roots
- Wanted to discover what theatre could offer to audiences that technology
could not
Polish laboratory theatre:
Grotowski was the founder of the Polish Laboratory Theatre
- Experimental company
- Place of research
- Actors explored potential in themselves and texts
- Experiments conducted and observations made
The group did not attempt to perform a wide variety of works but concentrated
on a limited number of pieces which that constantly reinterpreted and
rediscovered.
