Grotowski´s Empty Room

Most of Grotowski’s theatre-making took place in small theatre and studio spaces, from the tiny Theatre of the Thirteen Rows in Opole, through Wroclaw’s bare ‘Apocalypsis’ room, to the wine store in Pontedera. At the heart of his long-term research was the actor’s work on themselves in an empty room. In this book, that empty room is both actual and metaphorical: the work-place, Grotowski’s spartan home, a notion for analyzing Grotowski’s seminal Towards a Poor Theatre, and the paradoxically full vacuum Grotowski’s death has left for us. This collection analyses how Grotowski’s explorations in the theatre have challenged and still continue to challenge us, from his researchbased investigations in his Laboratory days through to the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards’ ongoing activities. The contributors all knew their Grotowski, and reflect with special insight on how theatre scholars and practitioners can begin to work on and with Grotowski today, and how we can remember him. Most of the texts were written after Grotowski’s death in 1999 and are translated into English here for the first time. Together, they reflect on the various stages of Grotowski’s work, offering fresh perspectives on his achievements and endeavours. The book asks: what does Grotowski´s oeuvre mean for the theatre and theatre studies today? What challenge does he still offer us now, ten years after he left the world ‘stage’, and decades after he left theatre-making behind?
Edited by Carol Martin and Richard Schechner