The Grotowski Sourcebook (Schechner Richard, Lisa Wolford, 1997)

7. Theatre Laboratory 13 Rzedow (Eugenio Barba, P. 73 - 82)

• P.73 Then in 1959, in a small provincial Polish town, Opole, a young director, accompanied by a young critic, opened a small theatre which from the very start had a specific character: a laboratory in which Jerzy Grotowski and Ludwik Flaszen experimented with actors and audiences. They were trying to build a new aesthetic for the theatre and thus to purify the art.
• P.74 Grotowski preserves the essence of "primitive (早期的)" theatre by making the audience participate, but he leaves out the religious elements and substitutes secular (世俗的;非宗教的) stimuli (刺激品) for them. Grotowski uses archetypal (原型的) images and actions to unleash his attack on the audience. He breaks through the defenses of the spectator's mind and forces him to react to what is going on in the theatre.
• P.76 [Grotowski's theatre was successful after 5 years] The point is no longer to present convincing characters, but to use the text as a catalyst (刺激因素) setting off a violent reaction in the spectator...The main problem of the Laboratory was to find new means of expression. "Many people are surprised that our productions have nothing in common with literary theatre." Grotowski said.
• P.77 According to Grotowski, there are three kinds of actor. First, there is the 'elementary actor,' as in the academic theatre. Then there is the 'artificial actor' - one who composes and builds a structure of vocal and physical stage effects. Thirdly, there is the 'archetypal actor' - that is, an artificial actor who can enlarge on the images taken from the collective unconscious.

Grotowski's principles which are characteristic of the Theatre Laboratory:

1. The deficiencies of the actor are used, not hidden. An actor's handicaps are as important as his qualities.
2. Costumes and props are the actors' partners or they are 'artificial extensions of the actor.' The actor gives life to the prop by treating it as a living thing. It is friendly or hostile to him. The 'partner' may be a costume.
3. Each character is depicted most purely by vocal or physical effects.
4. P.78 There must be direct contact between actors and audience. There is no stage. The actor speaks directly to the spectator, touches him, is around him all the time, startles him by frequent surprise effects. {The relationship between actors and spectators}
5. P.79 Theatrical magic consists in doing publicly that which is considered impossible.
6. Make-up is unnecessary. P.80 Make-up does not accentuate the physical characteristics of the actors. The actor can change the expression on his face through control of facial muscles. Lighting, sweat, and breathing transform his muscles into a mask.
7. The spectator's unconscious is deliberately attacked. The actor does not give a visual representation of the archetype - this would be familiar and banal. Through his technique he evokes and attacks a collective image. e.g. in The Ancestors, GustavKonrad does not look like Christ and he does not carry a cross.

• P.81-82 According to Grotowski, the director shapes the two groups, actors and spectators. They both must become aware of being part of the ritual-spectacle. It is this very awareness that distinguishes theatre from film. The future of the theatre depends upon this close contact between spectator and actor, which makes possible an act of collective introspection (反思).
• P.82...the only was for the theatre to survive is for it to exploit its unique characteristic: the direct contact between actor and audience. The actor, each night, faces the live critical audience; he recites his part at a public eager to note his slightest mistake. Every night he must find new ways to fascinate and control his audience; and every night it is a different audience challenging him. {Relationship between actors and audience}
• The Theatre Laboratory is looking for new forms of theatrical magic, for new alphabets to be use by the actor - shaman [a person who has special powers to control or influence good and evil].

Barba, Eugenio. ‘Theatre Laboratory 13 Rzedow’ in The Grotowski Sourcebook. ed. Schechner, Richard, and Lisa Wolford. (P. 73 – 82) New York: Routledge, 1997.

Schechner, Richard, and Lisa Wolford. The Grotowski Sourcebook. New York: Routledge, 1997.