Sara Youngs Movement Theorist Paper Advanced Acting May 3, 2007

Grotowski’s Movement Theories

In the world of theater, and specifically acting, there have been several

influential people who have come up with new and interesting theories on how to get

the full potential of an actor. One such person is Jerzy Grotowski. This polish actor

and director became one of the leaders of the 20th century’s experimental theater

movement. He is best known for his work on what he called Poor Theater. This

paper will discuss his background, his influences, the style that he used, what

productions are associated with him, and finally his impact on the theater world.

Grotowski was born in Rzeszow, Poland in 1933. His early life was affected

by World War II in a fairly substantial way. His father was in the Polish army, and

therefore during the war separated from the rest of the family. When the Nazis

invaded Poland, Grotowski fled with his mother and brother to his aunt’s and uncle’s

farm. Once his family was reunited, he was able to move on to his theater studies.

Grotowski went on to have a fairly extensive regime of theater training. His

first major training came from the High Theatrical School in Krakow, where his

emphasis was in acting. He graduated from there in 1955 and promptly moved to

Moscow to attend the Lunacharsky Institute of Theater Arts. There his focus was on

styles of directing. It was here that he first began to learn about the work done by

Stanislavsky and Meyerhold, among others. He only stayed at this school for a little

over a year and returned to Poland in 1956. Along with his return to Poland, he also

returned to the High Theatrical School. He decided to continue his directing studies

there and stayed for another four years (Osinski 13).

His most notable influences were probably Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, and

Brecht. Specifically with Brecht, there are numerous similarities in their work.

According to Shomit Mitter, one significant similarity is the political impulse imbued

in both their works (80). Both men put forth the effort to make their audiences

question social conditions with the hope that perhaps their audiences would then be

spurred to influence social change. Also, they both intended “not to interpret the

world, but to alter it (Mitter 80).” Another one of Brecht’s musings that Grotowski

used in some part was that of alienation. According to Mitter, Grotowski “[knew]

that familiarity dissolves discrimination. ‘You try to draw attention,’ says Grotowski.

There could be no better definition of Brechtian alienation (Mitter 80).”

However, this is where Grotowski pulled away from Brechtian teachings. He

felt that too much criticism could completely cripple an actor. Therefore, too much

alienation was unnecessary. His ultimate goal was to “assist the actor to achieve

authentic selfhood (Mitter 83),” and he used various influences in achieving this goal.

Along with his Brechtian styling, he also held some of Stanislavsky’s beliefs. One

such belief was that “it is not possible to be something without knowing it (Mitter

83)” which comes out of Stanislavsky’s middle period. Grotowski also used logical

justification like Stanislavsky and also used questioning to “alienate aspects of

motivation worthy of greater logical scrutiny than is habitually accorded them (Mitter

85).”

Grotowski was also influenced by Asian theater. He has listed Indian

Kathakali, the Peking Opera, and Noh theater as being influences (Schechner and

Wolford 144). As in these Asian theatres, Grotowski used ritual theatre. He also

“refined theater to its two salient parts –actor and spectator (Schechner and Wolford

144,” that Asian theater used.

His influences lead into his technique. Grotowski was more than anything

else, a movement and acting theorist. His overlying goal was to force actors to use

their physicality to bring out untapped emotions in order to make their characters

more real. The physical rehearsals and classes that Grotowski directed held two

purposes, according to Owen Daly. First of all, the physical rehearsals and exercises

are meant to make the “physical body stronger and flexible to make it more available

to the actor (Daly).” The second reason was to “contact knowledge that comes from

conscious physical action (Daly).”

Grotowski also preferred to have a more authentic experience for both the

actors and the audience. Rather than having sound effects, he used the actors’ bodies

and voices to make the sound (Wiles 145). Furthermore, he refused to use heavy

lighting designs or use electronic media. Also, his costumes would be “autonomous

[in] meaning until the actor wears it and gives it a referent by manipulating it

physically (Wiles 145).”

In going with these preferences, Grotowski developed what he called Poor

Theater. With this, he attempted to have a poverty of the stage, which included the

aforementioned preferences in regards to technical design. However, the main

purpose of this poor theater was to highlight the relationship between the actors and

the audience.

In trying to reach this goal, Grotowski developed a series of physical and

psychological exercises. At the end of these exercises, which he called via negativa,

the actors were to have reached an undisclosed goal (Wiles 146). The exercises were

meant to force the actor to dispose of their “preconceptions, clichéd habits, mimetic

reproductions of banal realistic behavior, and all the ‘proper’ techniques of breathing,

speaking, and moving taught in conventional acting schools (Wiles 146).” These are

meant to be stripped away from the actor so that the actor can find his/her true self.

He used these methods in several key productions. In his Laboratory Theater

in Poland, he directed world renowned productions of The Constant Prince, The

Tragical History of Doctor Faust, and Apocalypsis Cum Figuris. In these

productions, he used put to use his theory of poor theater. In Apocalypsis Cum

Figuris, Grotowski chose a play that was textually barebones and then used his actors

to push that poverty of the stage. According to Konstanty Puzyna, the text was

mostly a “jumble of quotations from the Bible, liturgical chants, Dostoevesky, TS

Eliot, [and] Simone Weil (Schechner and Wolford, 88).” Puzyna also notes that there

is nothing textually that holds this script together, it is only Grotowski’s actors and

their movements that binds it. Grotowski also chose to use almost nonexistent

technical components in this production to highlight the work that the actors were

doing.

Jerzy Grotowski has started to have more of an influence in taking Americans

away from the conventional Western theatre standby of method acting. His method

of stripping actors down to their pure emotions has brought a new dimension to

theater world wide. His influence is felt especially in New York where he oversaw

several workshops as well as in California. Now, more acting coaches have started to

use his methods to train the new generation of actors. His work will continue to

spread and bring emotions and physicality together on stage.