| Theatre Cinema: Screenings of a Laboratory Theatre performance |
 17, 18 June Laboratory Theatre Space Admission free Mon 17 June, 8pm AkropolisScreening of a Laboratory Theatre performance, introduced by Jaros³aw Fret 82’, directed by James McTaggart, produced by Lewis Freedman, PBL 1968 The film was shot between 27 October and 2 November 1968 in Twickenham Studios near London. It was first broadcast on New York City’s Channel 13 on 12 January 1969. Cast: Zygmunt Molik (as Jacob and the Harpist), Rena Mirecka (as Rebecca and Cassandra), Antoni Jaho³kowski (as Isaac and the Guard), Ryszard Cie¶lak (as Esau and Hector), Zbigniew Cynkutis (as Laban and Paris), Stanis³aw Scierski (as Clio and Helena) and Andrzej Paluchiewicz Jerzy Grotowski’s Akropolis is considered a particular realisation of the poor theatre and one of the canonical masterpieces of twentieth-century theatre. Shown for the first time in October 1962, the performance underwent numerous changes in the following months and years. According to Ludwik Flaszen, “Grotowski found his entry point in the poet’s words: that the action of the drama was set “on the cemetery of the tribes”, giving – on purpose – a summation of our civilisation. Concentration camps were the contemporary “cemetery of the tribes” where peoples and cultures were to meet and be put to the ultimate test.”  Tue 18 June, 8pm The Constant PrinceScreening of a Laboratory Theatre performance, introduced by Jaros³aw Fret 48’; film in Polish with English subtitles The performance, which premiered in 1965, is based on Pedro Calderon de la Barca’s drama as paraphrased by Polish Romantic poet Juliusz S³owacki. When preparing the performance, Grotowski worked separately with the ensemble and separately with the lead man Ryszard Cie¶lak. In this closed, very intimate space, the director acted as a midwife assisting the actor in his dramatic search with himself, which resulted in a total act. “The performance is a specific study on the phenomenon of ‘constancy’. Here constancy is not manifested in strength, dignity and courage. The Prince opposes the actions of the courtiers (who perceive the Prince as an odd and strange creature, almost another species) with passivity and gentleness, fixated on a higher spiritual order. He seems not to resist the unpleasant manipulations of the people around him; he seems not to argue with the rules of their world. What he does is much more: he ignores their rules. Their world, industrious and cruel, has no way in fact of getting to him. They have sole power over his body and his life but at the same time they cannot do anything to him. The Prince submissively accepts the courtiers’ sick procedures and at the same time he stays independent and pure – to the point of ecstasy.” Ludwik Flaszen  The events are being held as part of Wroc³aw Days. |