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Editor(Owen Daly)> Jeff got an email asking questions about the great Polish Theatre director Jerzy Grotowski. Perhaps a fellow actor or director was looking for insight into a form of theatre that Jeff had devoted several years of his life to? A small group of actors directed by Dr. Jacques Burdick spent over three years recreating and exploring Grotowski's ideas and techniques from 1968 to 1970. Pillory Theater created three major and several minor works, performing in the Northeast United States, and at Il Miedzynarodowy Festiwal Festiwali Teatrow Studenckich in Grotowski's Wroclaw, Poland. Additional Grotowski source material - Grotowski Directory. Question> In the writings of Grotowski how important is the actor in the theatre? Jeffrey Spolan> Sine qua non. I was trained for three years using his techniques almost exclusively. My experience was profound. You can think of the "text" as the skeleton. It's about archetype and how one can reach that A point overlooked is that he came from an Eastern European {Not a prerequisite for doing the work of learning but rather Without trying to sound too full of hubris on my part His audience came to the theater with a shared tradition of {Please note: I am neither Polish in my heritage nor Catholic.} No such shared tradition/foundation exists in the mass i.e. the soil is pretty thin. The roots didn't take very deeply here... for many reasons. But did cause a sensation... "This year Grotowski.. next year Zen." He knew we were a culture of "fads" and his time or as we put it: ... he had his 15 minutes. He knew that. That is what is beneath the quip about his work on my web page. Those who know, know. (Which
will take you to a very interesting question: (which is actually very Greek) and that is what my quip about "onions" is all about.) The notion of Poor Theatre was not something Witness the plague of Attention Disorder Syndrome Sorry. This stuff ain't easy. Q.> In terms of their presence, what the body is doing , how it influences representation? J.S.> During the rehearsal process - and I'm
not speaking of The "it" is then shaped by the director. **************************************************** It's fair to say sometimes the body becomes the theater. I will give you an example. I witnessed a performance of Grotowski's company An actress stood in a corner and began to sing What happened next was I had the sense of Her "song" was being heard through my back! The effect was made even more so because The "child" was not a "child" but rather Get my meaning? It didn't matter that almost no one in the audience Her technique was such that the depth of her Sounds impossible right? WRONG ! It can be done... I will add one thing. You could make the point that because I had When the play was over I discovered These were not cheap theatrical tricks he was Nevertheless... it's how they are used.
We
will now entertain questions about Gun Control....
Q> Thank-you so much for the info on Grotowski. I really appreciate it. Have an essay due on Monday!! JS> Glad to help. Kick some butt! Like any good artist G. allowed himself to be influenced by many sources and then came up with his own way of doing things. The "work" in his theater was essentially non-verbal. There had to be what we would call "trust" or "confidence" between the participants. Otherwise "it" won't work. An actor pursuing this line of development
has to be willing to face some very In other words: one needs guts and grit and no shit. I once heard Christopher Walken remark: "Actors will steal anything." (that works) Then again, there is the Disney cartoon
of the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" {non verbally and cartoon-like} Among them: "Now that I've got it, what do I do with it?"
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