More on Grotowski and Artaud

Editor: (Owen Daly) Richard Gaffield-Knight, whose paper on Grotowski was very helpful to me when I began to compile this archive on Grotowski, uncovered two links between Artaud and Grotowski. They are that Grotowski apparently took at least two classes with Charles Dullin, Artaud's director and a statement from Grotowski crediting one of Artaud's predecessors, S. I. Witkiewicz with key ideas in his development as a director.

Via email from Richard Gaffield-Knight concerning this editor's thoughts on Grotowski and Artaud:

"Your comparisons are very accurate as far as I can remember. I'm sure you've read Peter Brook's The Empty Space, "The Holy Theatre." All I can add this morning is a PDF containing a couple of pages from my Masters Thesis on Artaud the prophet.

"Although Poland was very "closed" when Grotowski was growing up he did get out to study in Paris with Artaud's director Charles Dullin at least twice, according to Raymonde Temkine, one of his biographers. So, it would seem he was connected to Artaud through his teacher."

Attached to this email was an extract from another of his papers that dealt further with the connections between Grotowski's work and Artaud:

ExcerptsMastersThesisArtaud.pdf

In the extract above reference is made to Grotowski's essay "He Wasn't Entirely Himself" which is found on page 117 of "Towards a Poor Theatre" in which Grotowski presents a very well informed critique and appreciation of Artaud's work and ideas.