March 2010

For immediate release

Professor presents Polish performance pioneer

A Professor at Leeds Metropolitan University’s School of Film, Television and

Performing Arts has brought to life a key figure in European avant-garde
theatre, Tadeusz Kantor, in the first book to be written about Kantor by a UK
writer.

Professor Noel Witts’s book, 'Tadeusz Kantor', has been published as part of
the Routledge Performance Practitioners series.

Tadeusz Kantor was a theoretician, director, innovator and painter, famed for
his very visual theatre style. Kantor was also known for his challenging
theatrical innovations, such as extending stages and the combination of
mannequins with living actors.

Professor Witts’s book includes a detailed study of the historical context of

Kantor's work, an exploration of Kantor's own writings on his theatrical craft,
an analysis of his key works, including The Dead Class and Let the Artists
Die, and their critical reception and an examination of the practical exercises
devised by Kantor.

Professor Witts commented: "My real object was to somehow get Kantor
acknowledged as the great visual artist and theatre pioneer that he
undoubtedly was. The UK has taken a long time to acknowledge this. Much
of my research was carried out in Kantor's own archive in Krakow, Poland,
with help from some of his still living performers."
Routledge Performance Practitioners is a series of introductory guides to the
key theatre-makers of the last century. Other performance practitioners
featured in the series include Bertolt Brecht, Pina Bausch, Robert Wilson and
Konstantin Stanislavsky.

Ends

For further details please contact Carrie Braithwaite in the News and Media
team at Leeds Met on 0113 812 3022 or email c.braithwaite@leedsmet.ac.uk

Notes for editors:

• Leeds Metropolitan University has 30,000 students and over 300,000

associate students through its partnerships with 24 colleges.
• The University has achieved its best ever Research Assessment
Exercise results. Sports-Related Studies is in the top 6 institutions in
the country with research rated at the highest levels of 4* and 3*.
• The University’s award-winning learning environments include the
iconic Rose Bowl building, awarded Best Commercial Property
Development in the 2009 Yorkshire Property Awards; Broadcasting
Place, winner of the 2010 Leeds Architecture Awards New Building
category and the pioneering Carnegie Village student accommodation.
• Leeds Metropolitan is one of only a handful of UK universities to have
been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard.
• The University is home to The UK Centre for Coaching Excellence for
sport and disability sport and is 3rd in the British University and
Colleges Sport (BUCS) rankings.