Grotowski's Preperations to Paratheatre

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The first ‘paratheatrical’ event took place in June 1973 on a plot of land at Brzezinka, 40 kilometres from Wroclaw, where the Laboratory Theatre was based. From 1970 Grotowski invited Polish youth willing to ‘leave their inner comfort and seeking to reveal themselves in work, in meeting, in movement and freedom’ to join them, but selected only a few of 300 applicants. In this essay I will discuss how Jerzey Grotowski prepared for his new phase of work, called “Paratheatre”. The Laboratory Theatre was established in 1959 in a town called Opole, “later it moved to the university town of Wroclaw in January 1965” (Grotowski 1968: 9). In 1969 Grotowski found himself at a crossroads, both personally and professionally. He began to ask himself: “What does one do in such a case? One can force oneself to continue, but one must have a very strong character, because there is something wretched in that; . . . you can seek refuge in illness . . . or become a professor or rector and create some sort of extra special theatre school, which I thought about for awhile . . .” (Slowiak & Cuesta 2007: 30). Grotowski believed that one should travel when faced with major life questions, by doing so himself, he found his bearings in India. In 1970 he travelled for six weeks in India and Kurdistan before he reencountered his colleagues at the airport Shiraz, Iran. He grew a beard and lost more than 80 pounds, which made it difficult for them to recognize him. The end of Grotowski’s transformation took place in Colombia, where he speaks for the first time of theatre in the past tense and talks about the new direction his work will take: “This is a dual moment in my life. That which is theatre, ‘technique’, and methodology is behind me. That which has been reaching for other horizons within me has finally resolved itself . . .” (Osiński 1986: 123). In Colombia, Grotowski redefines

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