Teaching Styles of Jerzy Grotowski - Case Study Example

Teaching Styles of Jerzy Grotowski Teaching Styles of Jerzy Grotowski Titus Rock Manickam Order No. 209374 07 April 2008 Table of Contents Introduction to Grotowski……………………………………………………..3 2. What Makes Grotowski’s Style of Theatre Unique/Theory & Practice……….4 3. Towards a Poor Theatre………………………………………………………..5 4. Para-theatre…………………………………………………………………….5 5. Holy Actor……………………………………………………………………..6 6. How to Train in a Grotowski Style…………………………………………….6 7. Lesson Plan…………………………………………………………………….7 8. Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….10 Bibliography………………………………………………………………….11 Teaching Styles of Jerzy Grotowski 1. Introduction to Grotowski Jerzy Grotowski (August 11, 1933 - January 14, 1999) was born in Poland and his childhood was spent in the turbulent climes of World War II when his family also separated. His father was stationed in the army and Grotowski lived with his mother in Nienadowka. “In 1955, Jerzy Grotowski graduated from the High Theatrical School in Kraków with a degree in acting. Soon after graduation he went on to Moscow to study direction at the Lunacharsky Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS). During his stay in Moscow, until 1956, he learned new trends in theatre pioneered by leading Russian figures such as Stanislavsky, Vakhtangov, Meyerhold and Tairov” (Jason Bennett Actor’s Workshop, 2008). Upon his return to Poland, Grotowski went back to the school that he had graduated from and continued his studies. He also became the director of a local theatre during that time. “In 1965 he moved to Wrocław where he established and led a theatrical company - Laboratorium - which was in itself very innovative but under the overwhelming influence of Jerzy Grotowskis personality. He was the author of Towards a Poor Theatre (1968), where he declared that theatre should not, because it could not, compete against the overwhelming spectacle of film and should instead focus on the very root of the act of theatre: actors in front of spectators” (Mackey and Cooper, 2000 and Jason Bennett Actors’ Workshop, 2008). 2. What Makes Grotowski Style of Theatre Unique/Theory and Practice According to Jason Bennett, “Grotowski was the avant garde of the 20th century theatre.” (Jason Bennett Actor’s Workshop, 2008). Grotowski’s style was unique and brand new at the time it was introduced, although it came across as quite odd to some individuals. “Jerzy Grotowski was a revolutionary in theatre because he caused a rethink of what theatre actually was and its purpose in contemporary culture. One of his central ideas was the notion of the poor theatre. An intensely reclusive personality, he had no time for grand decorations on the theatrical stage. He was more concerned with the way in which the actor connected with the audience as a performer and as an individual. Grotowski’s emphasis on the actor blending with the audience took pre-eminence over the sets, costumes, lighting and other special effects. In his view these were just trappings, decorations and distractions and while they enhanced on-stage experience, they were unnecessary to the central core of the theatre. In the words of Grotowski poor meant the stripping away of all that was unnecessary and leaving a stripped and vulnerable’ and simultaneously ‘holy’ actor. (Mackey and Cooper, 2000 and Jason Bennett Actors’ Workshop, 2008). Grotowski grew up in Poland when the land was under Germany’s occupation. The state, however, provided him education and also gave him subsidy for his laboratory theatre and travels in Russia, the Near and Far East where he received new insights on their mysticism, use of gestures and expression in dances and acting performances. (Drama and theatre studies). 3. Towards a Poor Theatre Grotowski became famous for his published works describing the way in which he trained actors and actresses using his unique style. Grotowski was indeed a new phenomenon his brand of theatre, and this particular book describes just that very notion. Grotowski operated from his own theatrical laboratory in Poland. There, he made actors dress in all black and work with all black sets when they were rehearsing. Each actor had to undergo a rigorous regimen of exercises in order to maintain good control of his body (Mackey and Cooper, 2000). What was important to Jerzy Grotowski was what the actor could do with his or her body and voice without aids or with bare minimum object such as chairs that could be doubled up as boats when turned upside down, and with only visceral experience with the audience. He shunned the tradition of exotic costumes and stage managing vogue in European theatres from the 19th century onwards. (Jason Bennett Actors’ Workshop, 2008). 4. Paratheatre Grotowski did not envision theatre as a grand opera. Instead, he took it to its roots in performances before small, dedicated audience. His concentration was on para-theatre which dwelt on “private, non-performance oriented processes of group dynamics usually involving rigorous physical and vocal techniques for accessing, embodying and expressing the internal landscape.” He was keen to explore the tremendous potential within a small circle of actor and audience that pushed the actor to perform and carry the audience with him. The ensuing environment not only stirred the actor to perform to his potential but also built an audience which helped the actor with his quest of exploring his inner self in relation to audience’s reaction and response. (Alli, 2005). Paratheatre goes directly hand-in-hand with Grotowski’s notion of a poor theatre. “Where theatre depends on an audience to validate itself, to develop and blossom, paratheatre requires a kind of social poverty to regenerate the performers internal resources well beyond the interdependence of the audience/performer dynamic” (Alli, 2005). 5. Holy Actor In his quest for perfection, Grotowski realized that the actor he so groomed cannot but reach the level of purity that matched ‘holiness.’ He termed it as the ‘incarnate archetype.’ He was persistent in restoring the original grandeur of the theatre in its simplest form and beauty. He was single minded in his pursuit of originality willing to sacrifice the synergy of strategies and compromises modern entertainment contrived to bolster the theatre. Outraged critics in the west termed his style one of the “obscure religious experiences” of the socialists. Grotowski remained unfazed. His beliefs and influence were efficacious enough to win acclaim of strait-jacketed socialists. He did not bend to their archaic policies and they did not interfere with his “religious experiences,” howsoever obscure or profound they might have been. (Wolford and Schechner, 1997). 6. How to Train in a Grotowski Style Training in a Grotowski style essentially involves breaking down the acts to the bare minimum. It is economizing to the extent of reducing the complete stage to almost zero. The brilliance of this genre is in character visualization and development. The following lesson plans detail different phases of character development, maybe one or two objects, and creating situations, Grotowski style: Lesson Plan 1 Lesson Plan Title: Child Subject: Talking to a Child and Creating a Character Profile Grade Level: Year 9/10 and College Students Time Duration: 1 hour Objectives: Character Development, Understanding Stereotypes, Speaking in Different Contexts, Develop a Character Grotowski Style Materials: Chair Activities and Procedures: Create a child character by visualizing the child sitting in the chair. Answer the 5 w’s: Who? What? When? Where? and Why? Lesson Plan 2 Lesson Plan Title: Child II Subject: Creating a Monologue for Child Grade Level: Year 9/10 and College Time Duration: 1 hour Objectives: Character Development, Understanding Stereotypes, Speaking in Different Contexts, Develop a Character Grotowski Style Materials: None Activities and Procedures: Create 3 memories from your past. Record what happened, when it happened, how old you were, who was there besides you, and how you felt when it happened. In groups, hot seat your characters and recall the memories. Use the following: split scene, flashback, sequence of freeze frames, and thought tracking. Lesson Plan 3 Lesson Plan Title: Child III Subject: Writing a Monologue Grade Level: 9/10 and College Time Duration: 2 hours Objectives: Character Development, Understanding Stereotypes, Speaking in Different Contexts, Develop a Character Grotowski Style Materials: Pens, Papers, Chairs Activities and Procedures: Write monologue for child by actioning the text and coloring the words. Perform the monologue. Lesson Plan 4 Lesson Plan Title: Child IV Subject: Recap Grade Level: 9/10 and College Time Duration: 30 minutes Objectives: Character Development, Understanding Stereotypes, Speaking in Different Contexts, Develop a Character Grotowski Style Materials: None Activities and Procedures: Recap the stages, consider the different characters, and finish defining characters. Evaluate the characters of classmates. 8. Conclusion The purpose of this paper has been to provide an introduction to Jerzy Grotowski; as well as discuss what makes his style of theatre unique, his brand of theory and practice, Towards a Poor Theatre, Paratheatre, Holy Actor, and How to train in a Grotowski style. Grotowski was a very unique doyen of theatre. He based his training methodology on what was inside the spiritual and psychological realms of the actor and avoided exploitation of colorful prompts and other distractive gimmicks. It was not uncommon for him to dress his students in black and have them perform entirely on a black set in order to have them integrate their self-reliance with their own talents, energies and imaginations rather than depend on external objects for support. Bibliography Alli, A. (2005). Part one: Key terms defined (culture, theatre, paratheatre, and the emotional plague). Paratheatrical. Retrieved March 13, 2008, from http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:u3XvSsSI4NQJ:www.paratheatrical.com/manifesto.html+paratheatre+grotowski&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=6&gl=us. Drama and Theatre Studies, ISBN: 0-7487-5168—8, p. 336-56. Jerzy Grotowski. (2008). The Jason Bennett Actors’ Workshop. Retrieved March 13, 2008, from http://www.jbactors.com/actingreading/actingteacherbiographies/jerzygrotowski.html Mackey, S. and S. Cooper. (2000). Drama and theatre studies. Nelson Thornes. Wolford, L. and R. Schechner. (1997). The Grotowski sourcebook. Routledge. Read More