GROTOWSKI

LUDWIK FLASZEN and the Pragmatics of

The legendary director's one-time partner taiks about

the secret politics of the Polish Laboratory Theatre

BY STEPHEN NUNNS

am astonished that all of tbis bappened during my Ufe," says tbe short, white-haired man, peering into bis steaming cup of tea as tbough he expected some revelation to tnaterialize tbere. "I am trying to understand it alleverything that bappened." For tbe past 50 years, Ludwik Flaszen bas lived and worked in the sbadow of bis one-time friend and artistic partner, the tbeatre director/ guru Jcr/yGrotim ski. U'bile tbe cult of Grotowski bas grown apace since his death in I W*>notably in the "art as vehicle" projects that consumed tbe last decade of bis life and continue to be explored at

the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards in Pontedera, Italytbe 79-year-oltl Flaszen has bten kirgcly ignored. But, in fact, bad it not been for Flaszen, a critic and dramaturg, tbe work of the legendary Polish I^alntratory Theatreon whicb (irotowski's theatrical and post-theatrical legacy is largely basedmigbt never have bappened. Now.sittingin the offices ttf the (initnwski Institute in Wroclaw the home of tbe company that created and performed the trio of works tbat are at the center of Gnjtowski's reputation (Ahytpiilis., The Con.nant

A scene from the seminal Grotowski production Apocalypsis cum Flgurls.

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Prime and Apocalypsis cum Figaris)Flaszen is attempting to set the record straight. The Institute has braced itself for a "year of Grotowski," a series of high-profile international events marking the 10th anniversary of the director's death, which continue through the end of 2009. "There are many old people who are coming to these events," Flaszen observes with a laugh, setting his tea aside. "A lot of historians will breathe easier after we're gone, because the witnesses and participants of history are not wanted by people who write history. History is more confident the farther it gets away from the event." Flaszen, it seems clear, is trj'ing not only to reinsert himself into the history of Jerzy Grotowski, but into tbat of Poland as well. IT WILL BE AN UPHILL BATTLE. Grotowski left Poland after martial law was declared in 1981, heading first to Haiti and Rome and then to the United States before finally setting up a permanent base in Italy. The director did return a eouple of times to Poland. but tbe visits were brief, andas Flaszen notes"always incognito." After Grotowski died, it became known tbat be had designated Richards, an Ainerican, and Mario Biagini, tbe Italian actor and associate directorofthe Pontedera Workcenter, as bis designated heirs. For all intents and purposes, tbe director had turned his back on his homeland. In a certain sense, Grotowski had rejected his heritage long before tbat. By the time he left Poland, Grotowski had already brought to a closeand more or tess dismissedbis "paratbeatrical" stage (the semi-ritualistic, participatory events, famously described by Andre Gregory in the film My Dinner laith ~ ~

This spiritual aspect of Grotowski's work and persona has, for many years, been the focus of pointed critical attention. (Clearly, it was part of the image he cultivated. It was not for nothing that the critic Jan Kott referred to Grotowski as a guru and noted that he always bada 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 your conditions. 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 mid19S()s in Krakow, where the latter was finishing up bis studies at tbe State 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 f I I f ^^^^ the written essay, which addressed the ^ question, "How can theatre contribute to the development (jf socialism in Poland?") Flaszen, meanwhile, hati been a theatre critic and literary director of the Slowacki 1 heatre in Krakow. But he had lost bis job, thanks to bis open criticism of the government.

"In '56 there was strong opposition against the regime and against totalitarianism," Flaszen remembers. "I was the author of a pamphlet against the official culture in theatre. So, I became an outsider, a fighter against the regime. And Krakow was not my place anymore." The '50s-era government of Wladyslaw Gomuka was a peculiar (and very Polish) mixture of Soviet autocratic rule, Polish nationalism and vaguely liberal cultural and economic tendencies. In art, tbis meant a kind of constant scbizophrenia: While it was

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

Andre, that Grotowski oversaw in the Polish forest outside Wroclaw); he was moving into tbe "tbeatre of sources" phase, in wbicb be tried to locate tbeatrical/anthropologie exampies of Jung's archetypesrituals and performances that could represent the notion of a collective unconscious. He bad also embarked upon a simultaneously spiritualized and authoritarian approach to the work. Fed up with theatre, be had begun to explore more completely tbe intersection between performance and religion. Grotowski made it clear tbat he was not religious in the traditional sense of the word. Still, there was an ascetic quality to Grotowski's post-theatrical persona, exemplified by the physical shift that took place around 1970. Gone was tbe cbubby, chain-smoking, dark-haired dude in a black suit and Ray-Bans; he had been replaced by a gaunt, monastic figure in flowing cotton and sandals, with long hair and a scraggly beard. And though Grotowski remained suspicious of organized religion, he read about it voraciously and dabbled in performative aspects of ritual and the occult, ultimately finding a synergy between theatre and faith, even if it was only in tbe fact tbat both were on their way out. ("Tbe tbeatre and the church are dying," he declared in 1970. ''Although the two phenomena are very different, in spite of some affinities, I feel that in botb of them sometbing is drawing to an end.")

officially difficult to escape the constraints of Socialist Realism, the spirit (f tbe Polish romantic poets was never far away. And there was a grand tradition of tbe Polish avant-garde, exemplified by the work and 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 as something heretic, forbidden, because it was such an autonomie art." And its artistic ambitions were not limited to the main urban centers of Warsaw and Krakow. In early 1959, authorities in ibe southern city of Opole approached Flaszen to see if be was interested in taking over a small, new experimental venue called the Theatre of Thirteen Rows. "The name was very suspicious," says Flaszen. "I told them I was indeed interested, but they needed a theatre practitioner. And I suggested Grotowski." Flaszen knew of Grotowski mostly tbrough his work at the theatre school. ("I was friend of bis professors at the theatre academy they wanted to drink vodka with me because I was a very serious critic") Tbe fact that he suggested Grotowski for the job might seem surprising, as Flaszen had recently given the young director a less-than-enthusiastic, sarcasm-laced review for a production of Unde Vafiya. "There was a risk, because people believed tbat he was
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LUDWIK FLASZEN AND THE PRAGMATICS OF GROTOWSKI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 32

untalented," says Flaszen. "They thought he was an erudite." ,. That lieing the case, Opole was a perfect venue for Grotowskihere the studious director would have none of the pressures of Krakow. Grotowski and Flaszen negotiated a fine financial arrangement from the Opole People'.s Council, and a promise of complete artistic autonomy from the city fathers in the bargain. Off the cultural radar, financially supported and with little pressure to produce traditional theatrical fare, Grotowski was free to embark on a variety of experiments, including the development of what eventually became famously known as "poor theatre." THEORIES COME OUT OF PRACTICE, so it .shouldn't be surprising tbat a notion of "poor theatre" would emerge from Poland after the Second World War. The war bad devastated the country; more than five million Polts (three million of them Jews) had been killed. Most of the larger, urban areas had been leveled either by the Nazis (during such offensives as the Warsaw Uprising) or by tbe Soviets. After tbe war, the Allies betrayed the country at Yalta. And the subsequent Stalinist attempt at collectivization in Poland was such a complete economic disaster that it was actually abandoned in the mid-195ssometbing unbeard of in tbe Eastern Bloe. There were labor disputes and shortages of basic goods and services. In Opole, while Grotowski focused on the play selection and actor training, Flaszen took over the position of literary director ("an absurd title, as our tbcatre was not supposed to be a theatre of words," he recollects with a laugh). "We decided to work togetber in secret revolt," as Plaszen puts it. "We were undergroundbefore the revolution. We were conspirators. Of course, I'm being a little ironic. But, in fact, we did have the ambition to make a revolution in the tbeatre." One of the cagier moves on the collaborators' part was to create the notion of a Laboratory Tbeatre {wbicb is tbe name the group assumed when it left Opole for the larger, more Germanic cit)^ of Wroclaw in 1965). The idea of turning art into a scientific explorationsomething conducted in a laboratory, not in a studiofit nicely with the 1950s Cold War-era interpretation of Marx. (After all, historical materialism was supposhis political activities. By all accounts, the questioning did not go well, though the authorities released him with a warning. He would later be dismissive of this period of his life ("I was so fascinated by Gandhi that I "This was the political genius of Growanted to be bim"), but tbe lesson of tbe cost towski," Flaszen avows. "The Laboratory of forth rightness was not lost on Grotowski; Theatre was a country in a country. It was from then on, tbe director's viewpoints on independent. It was like 3 small kingdom Poland and ber politics would be coucbed in like Alonte Carlo. It was totally autonomous, metaphor, performance and poetry. because it was 3 laboratory." "Of course tbe performances were Even when the Polish authorities political," Flaszen confirms, "but we never watched a performance, tbe level of metatalked about this. For him, real politics was pborical content was sucb tbat it was often the basis for personal liberation. It was a little unclear whether tbat they knew what they Gnosticit was about how to he free from were really looking at. politics hut at the same time not escape from "In Grotowski's performances and in it. It was a spirit of lighting for the freedom our thinking about the theatre, there were of a single human being. many political elements," Flaszen clarifies. "Grotowski's passion was to know bow "If you take The Constant Prince: The presen- to be alone," he adds, "how not Ko he an tation of the royal court in that play was a institutional man, a man of the masses. nomenclature of the communist government. How not to follow of religion or ideobgy. For example, tbe court kills the prince. But But also not to lose the warmth of human afterwards, tbey cry. It's like Stalinism after communityeven while being alone. That Krushchev. But the commentary was not is a revolution without end. It is a process. clearit was better presented as a mystical .\nd it never ends." theme. Yet it was in fact an art play about independence of tbe individual under state NOW, AS OUR HOUR-AND-A-HALF oppression." nuerview wraps up, tbe tea Flaszen set aside The historical and political ciris cold, and tbe current director of the Grocumstances surrounding the creation of towski Institute, a robust young director Grotowski's artand critiques of those named Jaroslaw Fret, helps tbe older man on circumstanceswere never too far away witb bis coat. Fret treats Flaszen with deferfrom the work, via representations of politience and respect; it's an acknowledgement cal torture in Pedro Caldern de la Barca's that the Institute, the "year of Grotowski" The Constant Prince and Christopher Mar- and perhaps even a big part of Polish theatre lowe's Dr. Faustus, or the manifestation of as we know it would not be in existence if it Auschwitz's ovens (located only 60 miles weren't for Flaszen's decision 50 years ago away from Opole) in Stanisiaw Wyspianski's to establish a partnership with a young, poetic nationalist textAkropolis. bookisb tbeatre director in a provincial Polisb town. It bad been less tban a decade earlier tbat Grotowski had embarked on wbat one critic referred to as "a short but tempestuous adventure" of political activi.sm, joining tbe Central Committee of Socialist Youth Movement and founding an academic outreach of the Union of Soviet Youth. He even went as far as to write at tbe time: "We want an organization that will teach people to think politically, to understand their interests, to fight for bread and democracy and for justice and truth in everyday life. We must fight for people to live like humans and to be masters of tbeir fate." For his efforts, Grotowski was brought before the Krakow authorities to explain
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edly scientific.) Since his tbeatre pieces were constantly in development, Grotowski was able to deftly avoid the kind of state censorship that other Polish artists inevitably bad to contend witb.

"I'm very interested in wbat would have been if I hadn't met Grotowskiand wbere I would bave been?" Flaszen wonders out loud as he wraps a natty yellow scarf around his neck. " Wben I am on tbe other side, I hope tbat Grotowski and I will speak of this. "But," he adds, "I'm not in a hurry." S! Stephen Nunns is the director of the graduate acting program at Towson University In Baltimore, Md., and a former staff writer for this magazine.

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