Abstract:
The prevalent use of the (distorted) Stanislavski model in Polish actor training, particularly the use of affective memory, consistently raised my skepticism. Physical techniques appeared to be an obvious alternative for addressing the risks associated with the psychological method. However, they carry specific dangers that may lead to abuse.
During my exploration of Grotowski’s methodologies, training, and teaching in the model developed by Gardzienice, and other Polish theatres of that lineage (notably Chorea), I have experienced and come to realize (only after Mariana Sadovska’s call-out) that fatigue—stemming from physical effort and the organization of work—serves as gateways to these potential hazards. My prior practices had inadvertently ingrained fatigue as an integral component of my theatrical worldview, serving as criteria for evaluating the quality of commitment. Fatigue has been seen as a means of ‘liberating’ oneself from ego and superego constraints, enabling a flow of the body’s organic impulses and a genuine ‘truth’ of expression. However, if we consider the ego and superego as shields protecting an individual’s identity, then disarming fatigue can be seen as a tool potentially facilitating manipulation and exploitation. In my current pedagogical practices, I try to integrate self-care routines (e.g., de-role procedures, initiation and closure rituals). Simultaneously, I challenge the emphasis on instinctive action—prevailing in Polish teaching—advocating for a re-intellectualization of the performer’s experience through reflection and self-assessment.
BIO:
Małgorzata Jabłońska, PhD, is a theatre researcher at the Theatre Academy in Warsaw, Poland, having graduated from Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Her areas of interest encompass the history and challenges of actor training and the history of Polish alternative theatre. As an artist and researcher, she is a founding member of the CHOREA Theatre Association and has co-authored the book “Trening fizyczny aktora. Od działań indywidualnych do zespołu” (Physical Actor Training: From Individual Actions to an Ensemble) handbook. She is a member of the Polish Theatre Research Society and the National Theatre OFFensive. She is actively involved in research, serving on the research team for the Polish Ministry of Education and Science development grant “Safe Space: Good practices and tools for the transformation of theatre education” at the Theatre Academy in Warsaw. Additionally, she contributes to an interuniversity research grant project “Violence in Theatre – Practices, Discourses, Alternatives” from the Strategic Program Excellence Initiative at The Jagiellonian University.