Performer vs. Actor?: Grotowski and the Tradition of Italian Theatre
Abstract
This article is devoted to the provocative proposal of a plausible relationship between Grotowski’s last season (above all his idea of the Performer) and a certain tradition of the Italian actor’s theatre. We understand this relationship and this provocation essentially in terms of micro-theatricality and intra-theatricality. By intra-theatricality we mean that method of composition which is inscribed in the tranches de vie of layered, multi-generational actors, in their ability to reuse existential sequences and to reproduce on stage the complex relational routine that the company represents as a community. Apart from the fact that the distance between the twentieth-century Performer and the traditional Italian actor has often been emphasized, there is something in the traditional profile of the Italian actor that, in the mid-twentieth century, paradoxically coincides with the mission that Grotowski assigns to the Performer. The purpose of this article is to explore these analogies.
Keywords:
Jerzy Grotowski, Italian theatre, actor, intra-theatricalityReferences
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Authors
Dario TomaselloUniversità degli Studi di Messina Italy
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8625-7485
Dario Tomasello - Full Professor of Theatre History and Performance Studies at the University of Messina, where he coordinates the DAMS degree (founded there in 2007) and directs the International Centre for Studies on the Performativity of the Arts and Social Imaginaries (UNIVERSITEATRALI, founded in 2010). His research interests are mainly in the field of performance studies and the dramaturgy of actors.
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