Prof. Dariusz Kosiński
Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków
The Project of the Lectures at the Masaryk University in Brno, 24rd-26th Nov. 2014
Obligatory Course: Jerzy Grotowski and the Traditions of Polish Theater
The schedule of the course:
1. Monday, 12:30-14:00, room G01
The Forgotten Theatre of Jerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Grotowski started his theatrical career in 1957 but until 1964 he was considered to be a
strange theatre experimenter. Later when he became well-known his early performances
were recalled mainly as the series of attempts to create the “poor theatre”. In the lecture I
will try to see them from another perspective as the autonomous performances presenting
the unknown aspects and shapes of Grotowski’s art. Summing up I will present my own
interpretation of the famous “Acropolis” (1962)
14.30: screening of Acropolis
2. Tuesday 12:30-14:00, room G01
The Theatre as Total Act
The lecture will deal with the process of discovering so called total act in the course of the
work on the performances of “The Tragicall History of Doctor Faustus” (1963) and “The
Constant Prince” (1965). We will also discuss the possible understandings of the term and it’s
usage as the tool of a social change in “Apocalypsis cum Figuris” (1968-69)
11:00 Screening of The Constant Prince
3. Wednesday, 12:30-14:00, room G01
Towards Active Culture and the Art of the Performer
In 1970 Grotowski declared that he will never work on the theatre performance again. He
kept his promise. In 1970’s together with the group of his young colleagues he worked on so
called “paratheatre”. I propose to look at it in the contest of the counter-culture and as the
revolutionary tactics of possible social change.
In 1982 Grotowski left Poland and soon his Laboratory Theatre was dissolved. In USA an Italy
with new collaborators Grotowski tried to continue the methodical research started around
1977 in the frames of the project called “The Theatre of Sources”. Deeply involved in the
practical research of the ritualistic performances he finally created the action and proposed
new field of the artistic activity – the art of the Performer.
14:30: Screening of Nienadówka
Each of the lectures will last around 90-120 minutes. The lectures are open to the general public, but
the students who would like to get the credits are obliged to take part in all of them.
The Open Lecture: Performing Poland: performance studies in Poland and its application to the
research of the social life.
Tuesday, 15:00-16:30, room G03
When in 2006 Polish translation of Richard Schechner’s seminal Performance Studies. An
Introduction was published, its translator Tomasz Kubikowski proposed two new Polish words:
performans (for English performance) and performatyka (for performance studies). This decision and
gesture in quite performative way established new field of the humanities in Poland. Now – seven
years later – I would like to present both the problems that arised from the decision and the way in
which performance studies were used (also in my own research ) to analyze and interpret the social
life.