Jerzy GrotowskiJerzy Grotowski was a Polish theatre director and author of “Towards a Poor Theatre”. He graduated in 1955 with an acting degree before moving to Moscow to study for a degree in acting. During which he was taught about Stanislavski and Meyerhold. After being director of a small local theatre group he moved and established the Laboratorium.

Poor TheatrePoor Theatre is essentially the work of an actor with the audience. Set, costume, lighting, etc, all came secondary to the actor. The whole production elements were what film embodied so Grotowski wanted to get away from that and used production to compliment the acting. When the unnecessary was

stripped away you were left with a vulnerable actor who wasn’t able to hide behind the production. This meant that the performance was much more raw and pure.

Grotowski’s Main Idea

Theatre should not, because it could not, compete with the spectacle that is film. It should instead focus on the actors in front of spectators, which

is purely the essence of theatre.

POOR THEATRE ELEANOR ANNE RICE - 12.2 - MONDAY 24TH SEPTEMBER 2012

Lab Rules:•Actors must wear all black•Set must be all black•Focus on actors rather than production

Techniques:•Focus on body and voice control: It is of upmost importance that actors must be in full control of body and voice unaided. •No bag of tricks: No stock motions/actions that actors went back to for a particular emotion or situation.•Yoga: Used to calm bodies and centre minds but Grotowski denied it was yoga. Yoga’s purpose is the pursuit of inner knowledge while he wanted the bodies of actors to be more available.

During Performances:In the final performance Grotowski never completely dismissed costume, set and lighting. Instead he used them at a very basic level. They were secondary to the actors performance itself and was only there to compliment what was already happening.

“Priesthood”:After extreme physical and mental training an actor can have the ability to enter a state of “holiness” on stage. It is a severely intimate moment between the actor and audience where they can reveal their innermost being. Allowing the audience to do this too, they can reflect on the performance and the emotions. It challenges them to contemplate the issue being conveyed and their feelings towards this.

Performance elements:•Most performances confronted a social and or political issue which led Grotowski to becoming a key figure in political theatre of the 20th Century.

•Performances were not meant for entertainment but rather to create a “Pathway of new understanding”.

•If a part of a script offered nothing to the performance it was either re-edited until it gave something or completely thrown away.

The Audience Role: The audience plays a significant role in all of Grotowski’s Laboratorium performances. He wanted the audience to be involved however he knew that if they were physically in the performance and acting they would be more reserved and self conscious. So instead he focussed on the spatial relationship with the actor and audience. The distance and angle become key factors in how he staged his shows. How the audience was seated played a huge role in how they interacted and were involved with the show. He wanted them in positions that made them feel very much part of the scene without being involved with the action so their responses and immediate reactions were not reserved and far more natural.