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Archive History The Wroclaw Second Studio
Archive History The Wroclaw Second Studio | The Wroclaw Second Studio |
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Page 3 of 3 The exhibition received very positive reviews for its content. Krzysztof Kucharski wrote in 1989: 'It will be no exaggeration to say that this has been the most important event in the five years of the activity of the Second Studio and its historical-documentary annex'. However, for some – especially those connected either personally or emotionally to the Laboratory Theatre – the exhibition, which presented the selected period of the theatre’s work as having been historically important, yet definitively closed, was a misunderstanding. A comment by Jacek Bruzdziak read: 'I must admit that when I saw the exhibition for the first time, I felt disconcerted . . . The very first association . . . : a museum! And in this juxtaposition: Laboratory Theatre – museum, I sensed a great dissonance'.As part of its outside activity, the Centre for Documentation started a series of 'theatre lessons' for high school students, as well as screenings of documentary films devoted to the Laboratory Theatre. Additionally, the library was opened. The Centre was also charged with systematically organising the artistic documentation relating to the performances of the WSS itself. In May 1987, two premieres took place. The Polish ensemble presented Historia o ptaku Cis [The story of a C-sharp bird] by Joanna Kulmowa, directed by Mariusz Jeznach, with the participation of the Spirituals Singers Band; the performance was addressed to adolescent audiences. The international group, in turn, presented Bolox il…, based on Waiting for Godot. The last premiere of that season was Piesn Blazna [Song of a Fool] – an improvisation without words, created and performed by Khalid Tyabji, which premiered on 2nd June. In May 1987, because of the unstable situation of the WSS, which was still without artistic management, the authorities considered handing the theatre over to Wieslaw Hejna. The director of the Wroclaw Puppet Theatre was to open a small stage that would present performances for adult audiences. These plans were abandoned, partly because of protests from the WSS members. The issue of the institution’s survival remained uncertain. In July, Krystyna Gucewicz wrote: 'Cynkutis has entered the road of no return, and the theatre remains under an interregnum, exacerbated additionally by some unprofessional moves by the administrative management. Will Kocur return? – only he, as the staff of the WSS claims, and as he has already proved – could become the heir of the course of research marked out by the Laboratory Theatre'. Subsequently this did happen. With the start of the following season, Miroslaw Kocur returned to the WSS and took over the artistic directorship. The 'second start of the Second Studio' began. About the first performance – Anhelli by Slowacki, which premiered on 1st November – Kocur wrote: 'It is dedicated to all those who were here before me, as well as before the young actors who take part in the performance'. And further: 'This dedication justifies in a way the form of the performance, which clearly refers to the last performance of the Laboratory Theatre, Apocalypsis cum figuris, to such an extent that it quotes from Grotowski’s performance'. Yet the spectacle was warmly welcomed. Another premiere was Martwe dusze [Dead Souls] by Nikolai Gogol, directed by Kocur (the premiere took place on 11th April 1988). As Henryk Koczan wrote: 'This production, diverging from the previous works of Kocur . . . did not meet with a positive reception'. At that time, the Centre for Documentation twice presented the exhibition 'Laboratory Theatre – the end of the 25-year journey' as part of its outside activity: in Zielona Gora in February 1988, and in Krakow in April – at a theatre studies symposium entitled 'The Laboratory of Jerzy Grotowski'. The events were combined with screenings of documentary films dedicated to the Laboratory. On 12th May, 1988, in the weekly magazine Sprawy i Ludzie, a text was published by Tadeusz Burzynski, entitled Grotowski – a non-delusional greatness. About the situation of the Centre for Documentation at the WSS, the author wrote: 'Such a centre may share with another institution the administrator, accounts, doorkeeper, cleaning ladies, even the performance space; it cannot, however, be one of the branches of a theatre – the Second Wroclaw Studio. Such a situation brings about substantial misunderstandings. The archive may become a psychological burden for the theatre, one of its curses, as the Apocalypsis spase is, in a sense, a curse for anybody who will ever work on their own performances there. The theatre, in turn, can be a burden for the archive; not only because it can – as still happens – limit its scope, taking over its only room for the purpose of conducting rehearsals and presenting performances, but also because of the fact that the archive of Grotowski, being a part of the theatre of whoever it is – be it the young Kocur or even Dejmek himself – sounds false. This would simply be some kind of abuse'. Burzynski suggested that: 'Realistically, there are two possible solutions. The first would consist of the full, substantive detachment of the WSS from the Centre for Documentation of the Laboratory Theatre. The second would require that in the place left by Grotowski, there be a centre created in his name, which would conduct scholarly and disseminating activities, and collect and work on the documentation concerning Grotowski, as well as his group, disciples, continuators, heirs, and perhaps other theatre innovators working in parallel [with this tradition]'. Towards the end of June 1988, the WSS was the first theatre in Poland to stage the play by Martin Buber, Eliasz [Elijah], translated and directed by Kocur. One of the reviewers wrote: 'Eliasz is the most mature performance of this young ensemble so far… The spectacle is intellectually disciplined, demonstrating Miroslaw Kocur's philosophical inquiries to the fullest extent; it seems also to be the best-crafted performance of the theatre'. It was presented at the end of the 1987/88 season. The first production to be staged after the summer holidays was Wyspa [The Island], which premiered on 20th November. On this – and on the subsequent performance, Magia grzechu [The Sorceries of Sin] by Pedro Calderon de la Barca – the reviewer Koczan wrote: 'Both these performances have been created diligently, though with no imagination, adding to the plethora of mediocre theatre productions'. In April 1989, the authorities made the decision to abandon the Second Studio’s performance activity. Adam Zindulski, the director of the Department of Culture and the Arts, informed Nesterowicz in a note from 15th April: '… a new conception of the programme of the WSS has been accepted. The place will be transformed into a scholarly-workshop institution, which will not realise any theatre productions'. The official reason for the dissolution was the low standard of the theatre’s artistic activity. Eventually, the WSS ended its artistic activity with the end of the 1988/89 season. The premiere of Don Juan, which was in preparation at that time, never took place. As a farewell performance, the group of stagiares staged Elijah in a brand new version. As Koczan wrote: 'Of all Kocur’s productions, this farewell performance seems to have been the most successful, mature and emotionally resounding'. This material was based on the MA thesis by Adela Karsznia, Dzialalnosc Osrodka Badan Tworczosci Jerzego Grotowskiego i Poszukiwan Teatralno-Kulturowych w latach 1990–1994 [The Activity of the Centre for Study of Jerzy Grotowski’s Work and for Cultural and Theatrical Research in the period 1990–1994], written under the supervision of Prof. Janusz Degler at the Institute for Polish Studies of the University of Wroclaw, Wroclaw, 2003. |