Polish theorist and practitioner Jerzy Grotowski (1933–1999) is today best known for his poor theatre form, The Laboratory Theatre and tiny Theatre of 13 Rows in regional Poland. But his poor theatre concept and practice was just one of many phases in a career spanning four decades. Much of Grotowski’s work with actors was never…
While the origins of slapstick humour are most commonly associated with the highly physical Italian Commedia dell’Arte in the 16th to 18th centuries, there is evidence of the form existing earlier in Roman Atellan farces. The wooden paddle used to whack characters in Commedia dell’Arte performances became the name for this form of comedy. Its…
Arguably all theatre is political, as playwrights compose from a particular point of view and the theatre they create depicts a time, place and society affected by given circumstances. Western theatre that is notably political began with the satires of Aristophanes in Ancient Greece. The modern movement was forged in Germany from the 1920s by…
Antonin Artaud (1896-1948) was a French dramatist, poet, actor and theoretician who rejected Western theatre’s reliance on the spoken word, instead advocating an experimental theatre influenced by the East where ritualistic movement, stylised gestures and signals became paramount. Artaud’s physical theatre of cruelty was performed in non-traditional spaces with a weakened audience positioned at its…
Epic theatre began in Germany in the early 20th century with Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht. Working independently and together on a number of projects during the 1920s, mostly in Berlin, both practitioners developed their own brand of this radical new theatre form. Largely anti-realistic in style, epic theatre aimed to politically educate the German…
Physical theatre is a broad term encompassing works with elements of movement, dance, mime, acrobatics, dance-theatre, clowning, stylised actions and gestures, circus, mask, and more. While recognised as a form on its own, physical theatre can also involve aspects of other recognised styles such as Commedia dell’Arte, performance poetry, cabaret, musical theatre and more. Critical…