Towards a Poor Theatre Summary and Analysis

Towards a Poor Theatre is a collection of essays, interviews, and instructions for actors developed chiefly by Jerzy Grotowski and his Polish Theatre Laboratory, which Grotowski established to further the theory and practice of acting.

Jerzy Grotowski first denounces labels of his theatre as experimental, which he associates with such things as stage gimmicks, clownish acting, and contemporary music. At the core of his theory is the quest to find what separates theatre from any other art form, especially film and television. He admits his large influence in this regard is Stanislavski, and he mentions other influences, such as Meyerhold, Delsarte, and the Peking (Chinese) Opera.

He aims not to employ his actors with "tricks" or "skills" to pull out at the right time, rather his theory seeks to break down barriers, so that the...