Grotowski

• He was born in Rzeszów,in south Poland.
• He was influenced by religious writings such as the Bible and the Qu'ran.
• He was inspired by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the author of 'The Idiot.' 
• He set up his own theatre company called 'The Theatre Lab'. 
• He was fed up of the naturalistic theatre environment, because he thought that nothing boundary pushing or exciting was happening.
• More interested in form, rather than story. 
• Wanted to strip theatre back to an actor on stage in front of an audience, then look at the potential. 
• Grotowski wanted to get rid of anything superfluous, such as lighting or costume.
• He believed that physical exhaustion allowed his actors to access raw, truthful emotion- this was absolutely necessary because without superfluous elements the actors had to be AMAZING.
• Being exhausted means that you can tap into visceral, real emotion. 
• His theatre company was very spiritual- they would live together, share the same political views and do the same things.
• His ideal actor was called the 'holy actor' and was completely stripped back. 
• Grotowski believed in 'poor theatre' - not spending money on superfluous things. All that is needed in poor theatre is the live communion between actor, audience and space. 
• With his actors he used a technique of elimination called 'via negative', because he wanted his actors to rid themselves of anything that would stop them playing a truthful role- this could be distractions, personal issues or feeling self concious. 
• To help his actors clear their heads, he would take them on long runs.
• Grotowski believed that the actor-audience was key, because when an actor truly connected with the audience, they were able to change the or influence them.
• If the actor was truly connected, they could share a moment of self revelation with the audience.