Chapter 11 - Ritual Theatre

Summary

The phenomena Kris Salata and Tadeusz Kornaś refer to as ‘ritual theatre’ within the Polish tradition are closely related by influence and inspiration. In the first section of the ritual constellation, Salta investigates Juliusz Osterwa’s and Tadeusz Limanowski’s interwar company and institute Reduta, and subsequently, the postwar Laboratory Theatre of Jerzy Grotowski and Ludwik Flaszen. Kornaś addresses those theatres that emerged in response: Gardzienice, Węgajty, Studium Teatralne, Chorea, Pieśń Kozła (The Song of the Goat) and Zar. While each of these institutions developed its own practice and philosophy, they share in common a search for theatre as a transformative cultural action, performed by the actor-as-whole-person, acting on their own behalf in renewed encounter with the spectator. All operated on the periphery of mainstream theatre: as its grassroots alternative, but also literally – away from traditional performing venues and circles of established theatregoers, and often away from urban centres, thriving in close proximity to nature and to the remnants of folk rites and oral cultures.