Jerzey Grotowski

Jerzey Grotowski:

Jerzey Grotowski was born in 1933 in Poland and is said to be the father of experimental theatre. Many questioned his sanity for his obscure and unusual devising methods that were built around actors being one with themselves and the focus of the production rather than the things going on around them.  This was known as ‘Poor Theatre’ where an actor was stripped to only essentials making them the key part.

"Theatre in general became very elaborate and relied heavily on theatrical devices such as light, sound, costume and decor sets to add spectacle to the performance. The skills of the actors were overshadowed and became of less importance." - http://www.helium.com/items/1527718-what-is-poor-theatre

The following quote is a perfect example of Grotowski’s mentality towards theatre. Grotowski was not impressed with what theatre had become and felt cheap gimmicks that the show revolved around were what the art form was being ruined by. Grotowski’s performances became a lot less story based and a lot more actors based. This concept meant the actor had nothing to relay on when on stage. By stripping them to their basic’s this brought new colours to a show, which was what credited Grotowski so highly. Grotowski felt actors should go through real life experiences in order to embody the character, known as a ‘holy actor’. He wanted them to become the character rather than be them for the show. This is what led to his obscure devising methods. Grotowski felt that by pushing actors physically this would make them mentality available, in order to achieve this actors would do heavy exercise until they were exhausted.