LUDWIK FLASZENand the Pragmatics ofGROTOWSKI

The legendary director's one-time partner taiks aboutthe secret politics of the Polish Laboratory Theatre

BY STEPHEN NUNNS

I am astonished that all of tbis bappened during my Ufe," says tbeshort, white-haired man, peering into bis steaming cup of tea astbough he expected some revelation to tnaterialize tbere. "I amtrying to understand it all—everything that bappened."

For tbe past 50 years, Ludwik Flaszen bas lived and worked in thesbadow of bis one-time friend and artistic partner, the tbeatre director/guru Jcr/yGrotim ski. U'bile tbe cult of Grotowski bas grown apacesince his death in I W*>—notably in the "art as vehicle" projects thatconsumed tbe last decade of bis life and continue to be explored at

the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards in Pont-edera, Italy—tbe 79-year-oltl Flaszen has bten kirgcly ignored. But,in fact, bad it not been for Flaszen, a critic and dramaturg, tbe workof the legendary Polish I^alntratory Theatre—on whicb (irotowski'stheatrical and post-theatrical legacy is largely based—migbt neverhave bappened.

Now.sittingin the offices ttf the (initnwski Institute in Wroclaw—the home of tbe company that created and performed the trio of workstbat are at the center of Gnjtowski's reputation (Ahytpiilis., The Con.nant

A scene from the seminal Grotowski production Apocalypsis cum Flgurls.

OECEMBERO^ AMCRICANTHEATRE

Prime and Apocalypsis cum Figaris)—Flaszen is attempting to set therecord straight.

The Institute has braced itself for a "year of Grotowski," a seriesof high-profile international events marking the 10th anniversary ofthe director's death, which continue through the end of 2009. "Thereare many old people who are coming to these events," Flaszen observeswith a laugh, setting his tea aside. "A lot of historians will breathe easierafter we're gone, because the witnesses and participants of history arenot wanted by people who write history. History is more confident thefarther it gets away from the event."

Flaszen, it seems clear, is trj'ing not only to reinsert himself intothe history of Jerzy Grotowski, but into tbat of Poland as well.

IT WILL BE AN UPHILL BATTLE. ~ ~Grotowski left Poland after martiallaw was declared in 1981, heading firstto Haiti and Rome and then to theUnited States before finally setting upa permanent base in Italy. The directordid return a eouple of times to Poland.but tbe visits were brief, and—as Flaszennotes—"always incognito." After Gro-towski died, it became known tbat behad designated Richards, an Ainerican,and Mario Biagini, tbe Italian actorand associate directorofthe PontederaWorkcenter, as bis designated heirs. Forall intents and purposes, tbe directorhad turned his back on his homeland.

In a certain sense, Grotowski hadrejected his heritage long before tbat. Bythe time he left Poland, Grotowski hadalready brought to a close—and moreor tess dismissed—bis "paratbeatrical"stage (the semi-ritualistic, participatoryevents, famously described by AndreGregory in the film My Dinner laithAndre, that Grotowski oversaw in the Polish forest outside Wroclaw);he was moving into tbe "tbeatre of sources" phase, in wbicb be triedto locate tbeatrical/anthropologie exampies of Jung's archetypes-rituals and performances that could represent the notion of a col-lective unconscious. He bad also embarked upon a simultaneouslyspiritualized and authoritarian approach to the work. Fed up withtheatre, be had begun to explore more completely tbe intersectionbetween performance and religion.

Grotowski made it clear tbat he was not religious in the tradi-tional sense of the word. Still, there was an ascetic quality to Gro-towski's post-theatrical persona, exemplified by the physical shiftthat took place around 1970. Gone was tbe cbubby, chain-smoking,dark-haired dude in a black suit and Ray-Bans; he had been replacedby a gaunt, monastic figure in flowing cotton and sandals, with longhair and a scraggly beard.

And though Grotowski remained suspicious of organizedreligion, he read about it voraciously and dabbled in performativeaspects of ritual and the occult, ultimately finding a synergy betweentheatre and faith, even if it was only in tbe fact tbat both were ontheir way out. ("Tbe tbeatre and the church are dying," he declaredin 1970. ''Although the two phenomena are very different, in spiteof some affinities, I feel that in botb of them sometbing is drawingto an end.")

Flaszen, left, with Eugenio Barba, former Grotowskicollaborator and founder of Denmark's Odin Teatret

This spiritual aspect of Grotowski's work and persona has, formany years, been the focus of pointed critical attention. (Clearly, it waspart of the image he cultivated. It was not for nothing that the criticJan Kott referred to Grotowski as a guru and noted that he alwaysbada copy of Martin Buber's Talcs of the Hasidini with him.

"It is religious," says Flaszen of his late colleague's worldview,"but it is without sacrament. It is about how not to be a slave to yourconditions. It's not to escape reality, but to face it.

"Now," he adds, "the mystery can be shown."Flaszen's relationship with Grotowski dates back to the mid-

19S()s in Krakow, where the latter was finishing up bis studies at tbeState Theatre School, ((irotowski b;ul gotten in by tbe skin of his

teeth, virtually failing the performance^ I ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ P portion of the entrance exam butacing

i f I I f ^ ^ ^ ^ the written essay, which addressed the^ question, "How can theatre contrib-

ute to the development (jf socialism inPoland?") Flaszen, meanwhile, hati beena theatre critic and literary director ofthe Slowacki 1 heatre in Krakow. Buthe had lost bis job, thanks to bis opencriticism of the government.

"In '56 there was strong opposi-tion against the regime and againsttotalitarianism," Flaszen remembers."I was the author of a pamphlet againstthe official culture in theatre. So, Ibecame an outsider, a fighter againstthe regime. And Krakow was not myplace anymore."

The '50s-era government ofWladyslaw Gomuíka was a peculiar(and very Polish) mixture of Sovietautocratic rule, Polish nationalism andvaguely liberal cultural and economictendencies. In art, tbis meant a kind ofconstant scbizophrenia: While it was

officially difficult to escape the constraints of Socialist Realism, thespirit (ïf tbe Polish romantic poets was never far away. And there wasa grand tradition of tbe Polish avant-garde, exemplified by the workand theories of writers like Stanisiaw Ignacy Witkiewicz.

"We were watching the beginn ing of tbe new tbearrc in Poland,"says Flaszen. "In the period of Socialist Realism, theatre was seen assomething heretic, forbidden, because it was such an autonomie art."

And its artistic ambitions were not limited to the main urbancenters of Warsaw and Krakow. In early 1959, authorities in ibesouthern city of Opole approached Flaszen to see if be was interestedin taking over a small, new experimental venue called the Theatreof Thirteen Rows.

"The name was very suspicious," says Flaszen. "I told them Iwas indeed interested, but they needed a theatre practitioner. AndI suggested Grotowski."

Flaszen knew of Grotowski mostly tbrough his work at the the-atre school. ("I was friend of bis professors at the theatre academy—they wanted to drink vodka with me because I was a very seriouscritic") Tbe fact that he suggested Grotowski for the job mightseem surprising, as Flaszen had recently given the young directora less-than-enthusiastic, sarcasm-laced review for a production ofUnde Vafiya. "There was a risk, because people believed tbat he was

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untalented," says Flaszen. "They thought hewas an erudite." ,.

That lieing the case, Opole was a perfectvenue for Grotowski—here the studiousdirector would have none of the pressuresof Krakow. Grotowski and Flaszen negoti-ated a fine financial arrangement from theOpole People'.s Council, and a promise ofcomplete artistic autonomy from the cityfathers in the bargain. Off the cultural radar,financially supported and with little pres-sure to produce traditional theatrical fare,Grotowski was free to embark on a varietyof experiments, including the developmentof what eventually became famously knownas "poor theatre."

THEORIES COME OUT OF PRACTICE,so it .shouldn't be surprising tbat a notion of"poor theatre" would emerge from Polandafter the Second World War. The war baddevastated the country; more than five mil-lion Polts (three million of them Jews) hadbeen killed. Most of the larger, urban areashad been leveled either by the Nazis (duringsuch offensives as the Warsaw Uprising)or by tbe Soviets. After tbe war, the Alliesbetrayed the country at Yalta. And the sub-sequent Stalinist attempt at collectivizationin Poland was such a complete economicdisaster that it was actually abandoned in themid-195üs—sometbing unbeard of in tbeEastern Bloe. There were labor disputes andshortages of basic goods and services.

In Opole, while Grotowski focusedon the play selection and actor training,Flaszen took over the position of literarydirector ("an absurd title, as our tbcatrewas not supposed to be a theatre of words,"he recollects with a laugh). "We decided towork togetber in secret revolt," as Plaszenputs it. "We were underground—before therevolution. We were conspirators. Of course,I'm being a little ironic. But, in fact, we didhave the ambition to make a revolution inthe tbeatre."

One of the cagier moves on the col-laborators' part was to create the notion of aLaboratory Tbeatre {wbicb is tbe name thegroup assumed when it left Opole for thelarger, more Germanic cit)̂ of Wroclaw in1965). The idea of turning art into a scien-tific exploration—something conducted in alaboratory, not in a studio—fit nicely with the1950s Cold War-era interpretation of Marx.(After all, historical materialism was suppos-

edly scientific.) Since his tbeatre pieces wereconstantly in development, Grotowski wasable to deftly avoid the kind of state censor-ship that other Polish artists inevitably badto contend witb.

"This was the political genius of Gro-towski," Flaszen avows. "The LaboratoryTheatre was a country in a country. It wasindependent. It was like 3 small kingdom—like Alonte Carlo. It was totally autonomous,because it was 3 laboratory."

Even when the Polish authoritieswatched a performance, tbe level of meta-pborical content was sucb tbat it was oftenunclear whether tbat they knew what theywere really looking at.

"In Grotowski's performances and inour thinking about the theatre, there weremany political elements," Flaszen clarifies."If you take The Constant Prince: The presen-tation of the royal court in that play was anomenclature of the communist government.For example, tbe court kills the prince. Butafterwards, tbey cry. It's like Stalinism afterKrushchev. But the commentary was notclear—it was better presented as a mysticaltheme. Yet it was in fact an art play aboutindependence of tbe individual under stateoppression."

The historical and political cir-cumstances surrounding the creation ofGrotowski's art—and critiques of thosecircumstances—were never too far awayfrom the work, via representations of politi-cal torture in Pedro Calderón de la Barca'sThe Constant Prince and Christopher Mar-lowe's Dr. Faustus, or the manifestation ofAuschwitz's ovens (located only 60 milesaway from Opole) in Stanisiaw Wyspianski'spoetic nationalist textAkropolis.

It bad been less tban a decade earliertbat Grotowski had embarked on wbat onecritic referred to as "a short but tempestuousadventure" of political activi.sm, joining tbeCentral Committee of Socialist Youth Move-ment and founding an academic outreach ofthe Union of Soviet Youth. He even wentas far as to write at tbe time: "We want anorganization that will teach people to thinkpolitically, to understand their interests, tofight for bread and democracy and for justiceand truth in everyday life. We must fight forpeople to live like humans and to be mastersof tbeir fate."

For his efforts, Grotowski was broughtbefore the Krakow authorities to explain

his political activities. By all accounts, thequestioning did not go well, though theauthorities released him with a warning. Hewould later be dismissive of this period of hislife ("I was so fascinated by Gandhi that Iwanted to be bim"), but tbe lesson of tbe costof forth rightness was not lost on Grotowski;from then on, tbe director's viewpoints onPoland and ber politics would be coucbed inmetaphor, performance and poetry.

"Of course tbe performances werepolitical," Flaszen confirms, "but we nevertalked about this. For him, real politics wasthe basis for personal liberation. It was a littleGnostic—it was about how to he free frompolitics hut at the same time not escape fromit. It was a spirit of lighting for the freedomof a single human being.

"Grotowski's passion was to know bowto be alone," he adds, "how not Ko he aninstitutional man, a man of the masses.How not to follow of religion or ideobgy.But also not to lose the warmth of humancommunity—even while being alone. Thatis a revolution without end. It is a process..•\nd it never ends."

NOW, AS OUR HOUR-AND-A-HALFnuerview wraps up, tbe tea Flaszen set asideis cold, and tbe current director of the Gro-towski Institute, a robust young directornamed Jaroslaw Fret, helps tbe older man onwitb bis coat. Fret treats Flaszen with defer-ence and respect; it's an acknowledgementthat the Institute, the "year of Grotowski"and perhaps even a big part of Polish theatreas we know it would not be in existence if itweren't for Flaszen's decision 50 years agoto establish a partnership with a young,bookisb tbeatre director in a provincialPolisb town.

"I'm very interested in wbat would havebeen if I hadn't met Grotowski—and wbere Iwould bave been?" Flaszen wonders out loudas he wraps a natty yellow scarf around hisneck. " Wben I am on tbe other side, I hopetbat Grotowski and I will speak of this.

"But," he adds, "I'm not in a hurry." S!

Stephen Nunns is the directorof the graduate acting program atTowson University In Baltimore, Md.,and a former staff writer forthis magazine.

AMERICANTHEATRe DECEMBERO

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