Soul Rich Poland - and Bumping into Grotowski Actor Mieczysław Janowski: Blog 134

Dzień dobry

My photo of Sunflowers on sale in the market square 8.30 pm 

Mietek in Constant Prince

Today is very simple - yesterday was very full on. Within an hour of arriving Maciej and I found ourselves sitting in a bar with Mietek having a beer (well mine was a diet coke actually - it was 10.30 am after all). Mietek is one of Grotowski's original actors from the ensemble, and we got to swapping stories about the early eighties. 

He regaled us with some from the rehearsal room. He told me how Grotowski would work with one individual actor for hours, and demanded the others to keep working by themselves. We talked about the dangers of exposure and the rigorous demands of birthing authentic images, narratives and more - nothing less was ever acceptable to Grotowski. 

I managed to get a bit of our conversation on video on my Iphone and have uploaded it to my Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/carole.pluckrose as I am struggling to embed it here for some reason! The video is set to public so you can see it - and I have Mietek's permission to share it with you.

It was great to sit in the warm Sunday Wroclaw sunshine and listen to a first hand recounting of some of the exercises Grotowski did with his actors - and to manage to capture some of Mietek's expressiveness on my little camera. The territory of discussion is of course very familiar to me - and we talked a great deal about the real job of the actor - ie; to conjur, spirit up from deep interior spaces an idea, image, voice and character. And as Mietek put it - its like giving birth to something that you don't know. Or at least you think you don't know.

It was fabulous to spend time in this space - and we are now talking about Mietek coming to Barking in the autumn to run a workshop for actors/students/teachers at which he will also share original footage of some of Grotowski's 'Etudes'. Think it might get some take up.

Renata Jasinska - Artistic Director - ARKA Teatr

Later yesterday was the reason for my visit - the performance at ARKA Teatr of their new play MORALNOŚĆ PANI DULSKIEJ² 

The Artistic Director Renata Jasinska plays the lead and splendidly too! In spite of my distinct lack of Polish
the physical and vocal humour just jumped out making itself known throughout the performance with a fluidity and naturalness that was breathtaking. I am so looking forward to sharing this work with our community in Barking and Dagenham.

Later we went to La Scala for dinner at the kind invitation of Wanda, the larger than life City Councillor who is helping us to realise our Wroclaw/Barking ideas! Can't wait to introduce her to Cllr Cameron Geddes!

And that was day one - I had to have a siesta!

Today promises much more of the same - there is a ceremony in the Town Hall at 12pm to award ARKA for its contribution to the arts. This is also being set up to announce the new international partnership between the two companies  - A Tale of Two Arcs So it will be pretty much a full on day with interviews etc; still wish I could speak a bit more Polish that the cursory five words - feels so rude.

See you later. Have a good one. It was very hot here yesterday! 


****FUNDRAISING FOR ARKA LONDON VISIT******

As I have no funding to bring ARKA to Barking this summer but am determined to do so I have set up a fundraising page https://fundrazr.com/stories/e4I0pa#.UcfSTYNMUG4.facebook
And hope that if you are in a generous mood you might stop by with a fiver! All donations much appreciated! Thanks in advance.