THE RADICALS & AVANT-GARDE 1920–1970

Jerzy Grotowski begins where others end: an empty room, a handful of actors, and an audience about to become something more than passive viewers. In 1960s Poland, behind the Iron Curtain, Grotowski quietly revolutionized theatre by stripping it to the bone. He argued that theatre “should not, because it could not, compete” with the spectacular illusions of film; instead it must “focus on the very root of the act of theatre: actors cocreating the event with spectators.” . This became the manifesto of “Poor Theatre.” Poor not in talent or impact, but in material needs – poor by choice.

In Grotowski’s “poor” theatre, everything non-essential goes. No elaborate sets, no fancy costumes, no makeup, minimal lighting. All that remains is the live encounter: human bodies in space, actor and audience “in ...