Chapter 20 - Textual Transpositions

Summary

Grotowski's relationship to the dramatic text is complicated; although he disregards the playwright's intentions, he also considers the text a framework of already-established, cultural signposts on which the director is to build his own version of the show. In Towards a Poor Theatre, Grotowski elaborates on his relationship to the classic text:

The strength of great works really consists in their catalytic effect: they open doors for us, set in motion the machinery of our self-awareness. My encounter with the text resembles my encounter with the actor and his with me. For both producer and actor, the author's text is a sort of scalpel enabling us to open ourselves, to transcend ourselves, to find what is hidden within us and to make the act of encountering the others. […] In the theatre, if you like, the text has the same function as the myth had for the poet of ancient times.

Ludwik Flaszen points out that “Grotowski took Wyspiański's drama and fashioned a montage, with fragments, scenes, and with the concentration camp. So, there was a script of sorts, although this script made no sense as a drama, because the whole structure was destroyed in it.” Thus, the outline of Wyspiański's drama serves as a departure point for skewed transpositions of themes, symbols and metaphors.