Jerzy Grotowski facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Jerzy Grotowski
Grotowski c.1972
Born	(1933-08-11)11 August 1933 Rzeszów, Poland
Died	14 January 1999(1999-01-14) (aged 65) Pontedera, Tuscany, Italy
Occupation	Theatre director
Alma mater	Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts in Kraków Russian Academy of Theatre Arts
Notable awards	Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1974) Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director for The Apocalypse (1970)

Jerzy Marian Grotowski (born August 11, 1933 – died January 14, 1999) was a famous Polish theatre director. He was also a theorist, meaning he had new ideas about how theatre should work. His fresh ways of acting, training, and putting on plays have greatly changed theatre around the world.

Grotowski was born in Rzeszów, Poland. He studied acting and directing in Poland and Russia. In 1957, he directed his first play. Soon after, in 1959, he started a small theatre group in Opole, Poland. In the 1960s, his group began to travel and perform internationally. More and more people became interested in his unique work.

As his fame grew, Grotowski was invited to work in the United States. He left Poland in 1982. Even though his theatre group in Poland closed in 1984, he kept teaching and directing plays. He worked in both Europe and America. However, Grotowski felt uncomfortable with how his ideas were being used by others, especially in the US. So, in 1985, he moved to Italy. There, he started the Grotowski Workcenter in Pontedera. For the last twenty years of his life, he continued his theatre experiments there. He often worked in private, almost in secret. Grotowski passed away in 1999 in Pontedera.

Biography

Jerzy Grotowski was six years old when World War II started in 1939. During the war, he moved with his mother and brother to a village called Nienadówka.

Career in Theatre

Early Productions

Grotowski directed his first play, Gods of Rain, in 1958. This play showed his bold new way of using scripts. This approach influenced many theatre artists who came after him. Later in 1958, Grotowski moved to Opole. He was asked to be the director of the Theatre of 13 Rows. There, he gathered actors and artists who shared his vision. He also started to experiment with new ways to train actors. He helped young actors become amazing performers. Grotowski admired Konstantin Stanislavski, another famous theatre director. He called Stanislavski "the first great creator of a method of acting."

His theatre company became famous for many plays. These included Orpheus, Shakuntala, Forefathers' Eve, and Akropolis. Akropolis was the first time Grotowski fully showed his idea of "poor theatre." In this play, actors built a crematorium structure around the audience. They acted out stories from the Bible and Greek mythology. This was very powerful for audiences in Opole. The Auschwitz concentration camp was only sixty miles away. Akropolis became well-known around the world. A film of the play was even made with an introduction by Peter Brook. This film is a great way to see Grotowski's work.

In 1964, Grotowski had another success with The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. He used no props at all. The actors' bodies became the different objects in the play. Audience members sat as guests at Faust's last supper. The play happened all around them, making it very personal.

In 1965, Grotowski moved his company to Wrocław. He renamed it "Teatr Laboratorium" (Theatre Laboratory). This helped him avoid strict censorship in Poland. They started working on The Constant Prince. This play, which opened in 1967, is seen by many as one of the best plays of the 20th century. The main actor, Ryszard Cieslak, gave an amazing performance. Grotowski worked with Cieslak for over a year to perfect his movements.

Grotowski's last play as a director was in 1969. It was called "Apocalypsis Cum Figuris." It used texts from the Bible and other writers. The actors worked together to create a "total act." This play took more than three years to develop. During this time, Grotowski started to move away from traditional theatre. He was exploring what he later called "art as presentation."

Grotowski changed theatre forever. He and his first student, Eugenio Barba, are seen as the founders of modern experimental theatre. Barba helped introduce Grotowski's work to the world outside Poland. He edited the important book Towards a Poor Theatre (1968). In this book, Grotowski said that theatre should not try to compete with movies. Instead, it should focus on the basic act of theatre: actors and audience creating the event together.

Becoming Known in the West

In 1968, Grotowski's company performed Akropolis at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. This was his first time showing his work in the West. This play was perfect for introducing his "poor theatre" ideas. His book, Towards a Poor Theatre, was published in English in 1969. It had an introduction by Peter Brook. Brook wrote about how Grotowski privately advised the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Grotowski's company first performed in the United States in 1969. They performed Akropolis, The Constant Prince, and Apocalypsis Cum Figuris.

Exploring New Theatre Ideas

In 1973, Grotowski wrote about a new direction for his work called the 'Paratheatrical' phase. He explored this until 1978. In this phase, he tried to remove the barrier between performers and the audience. He did this by organizing group events and simple interactions. These events sometimes lasted a long time. He wanted to help people express themselves freely. Andre Gregory, a friend of Grotowski, described one of these events as a "beehive" in his movie My Dinner With Andre. Some of Grotowski's earlier collaborators found it hard to follow him in these new explorations. Younger members of the group, like Jacek Zmysłowski, became more important. Grotowski later said he found this type of work limiting. He realized that unstructured activities often led to common or unoriginal ideas.

Theatre of Sources

During this time, Grotowski traveled a lot. He visited India, Mexico, and Haiti. He wanted to find techniques from traditional cultures that could affect people. Key people who worked with him included Włodzimierz Staniewski and Jairo Cuesta. Grotowski was interested in ritual practices from Haiti. This led to a long partnership with Maud Robart. Grotowski used his international connections to leave Poland when martial law was declared. He spent time in Haiti and Rome. In Rome, he gave important talks about theatre anthropology in 1982. Then he sought safety in the United States. His friends, Andre and Mercedes Gregory, helped him settle in the US. He taught at Columbia University for a year.

Objective Drama

In 1983, Grotowski was invited to the University of California, Irvine. There, he started a new project called Objective Drama. This work focused on how people's bodies and minds react to certain songs. These songs came from traditional cultures. He looked for simple techniques that could have clear effects on people, no matter their beliefs. Songs from Haiti and other African traditions became important tools. Maud Robart, Jairo Cuesta, and Pablo Jimenez were key performers and leaders in this project. He also started working with Thomas Richards. Grotowski would later pass on his life's research to Thomas Richards.

Art as Vehicle

In 1986, Grotowski moved his work to Pontedera, Italy. He was given a chance to do long-term research without pressure to show results. Grotowski was happy to accept. He brought three assistants from his Objective Drama research with him. They helped him start his Italian Workcenter. Grotowski called his final research phase "art as a vehicle." This term was first used by Peter Brook. Brook said that Grotowski was showing how performance can help people reach a deeper level of understanding.

In 1986, Grotowski also changed the name of the Italian center. It became the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards. This showed how important Richards was to his work. Grotowski encouraged Richards to take on more and more leadership. Richards became the main person doing the "Art as Vehicle" practice. He also led the performances created around Afro-Caribbean songs. These included 'Downstairs Action' and 'Action'. Italian actor Mario Biagini also became a key part of this research. Grotowski passed away in 1999. However, the "Art as Vehicle" research continues at the Pontedera Workcenter. Thomas Richards is now the Artistic Director.

Voicework

Jerzy Grotowski was one of a few directors who explored new ways of theatre without using spoken words. He worked with actors to use their voices in experimental ways. This was partly inspired by Roy Hart's work on extended vocal technique.

For example, in Grotowski's 1963 play Faustus, the actors' voices were amazing. They could go from a tiny whisper to a deep, powerful sound. This use of non-verbal voice was part of Grotowski's idea. He believed that actors could use their own bodies and voices to express deep feelings. These feelings could be from what Carl Jung called the collective unconscious. This means shared human experiences that are deep inside us all.

Theatre and Psychology

Grotowski believed that theatre could be like a special gathering. He said it was like a ritual where nothing is just shown. Instead, everyone takes part in a ceremony that connects to our shared human feelings. He often called his rehearsals and performances "sacred." He wanted to bring back the idea that drama came from religious ritual and spiritual practice.

To do this, Grotowski asked his actors to find images from their inner selves. These images had to be important to everyone. Then, they would show these images through body movements and voice sounds. Grotowski wanted the actors to change and grow through this process. He hoped that this change in the actor would also help the audience grow. That's why he often chose plays based on old stories. He believed these stories had powerful myths and images. These images were universal enough to connect with everyone's inner feelings.

Grotowski believed that the script was not the most important part of a play. He thought that a script only became theatre when actors used it. This meant using their voices, sounds, and the musicality of the language. He wanted to create "ideograms" made of sounds and gestures. These would bring up feelings in the audience's mind. Grotowski also believed there were things that stopped people from expressing these inner images. His acting exercises were designed to remove these blocks. He thought this training could help people free themselves, much like therapy.

See also

In Spanish: Jerzy Grotowski para niños