Jerzy Grotowski

Jerzy Grotowski was a Polish actor and later theatre producer who founded the Theatre Laboratory and developed his own theories and methods on the subject of theatre acting. In his various interviews and essays, Grotowski comes across as intelligent, personable, and open to debate though at the same time confident of his theory. He advocates a theory of theatre that puts the actor at the center as the essential element of theater. Grotowski wonders how to separate theatre from its closest rivals, film and television, and decides that it is the contact with the living organism - the actor - that is unique and essential about the theatre. Since theatre cannot compete with the mise-en-scene - props, lighting, scenery - of film and television, Grotowski advocates the creation of a "poor" theatre. In the poor theatre, lighting, make-up, sets, and costumes are seen as superfluous, and are...