| Theatre Cinema: The Laboratory Theatre |
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Screenings of a Laboratory Theatre performance to mark the 50th anniversary of the Laboratory Theatre moving from Opole to Wroc³aw Wed 21, 28 January 2015, 19:00 Cinema Room Admission free Wed 21 January, 19:00 Akropolis Screening of a Laboratory Theatre performance Directed by James McTaggart; produced by Lewis Freedman, Public Broadcaster Laboratory; 1969; 82 minutes In Polish Jerzy Grotowski’s Akropolis is considered a realization of the concept of poor theatre and one of the canonical masterpieces of twentieth-century theatre. Shown for the first time in October 1962, the production 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.” 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.  Wed 28 January, 19:00 The Constant Prince Screening of a Laboratory Theatre performance Produced by L’Instituto del Teatro e dello Spettacolo dell’Univeristà di Roma; 48 minutes In Polish with English subtitles “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  |