Polish director Jerzy Grotowski (1933–1999) is generally considered one of the most important representatives of the theatre avant-garde of the second half of the 20th century. Even if he, from a particular moment, opposed such a recognition, in his practice, he developed a whole net of strategies inspired by the historical avant-garde, both Polish and European. One set of this net’s strings is connected strictly to the relation between the periphery and the centre. Being an heir of culture that considers itself peripheral (and tries reluctantly to oppose such a recognition), Grotowski developed a lifelong policy of periphery and centre. Consequently, choosing the former as his own “base”, or maybe even a “home”, he at the same time consciously haunted and invaded the latter, disturbing the conventional relations and hierarchies. The article presents an outline of the history of the strategies Grotowski developed from his decision to leave the central town of Kraków for the provincial Opole in 1959 until his performance of a “hidden hermitage” in Pontedera (Tuscany) in the 1990s.
Dariusz Kosiński (Wed,) studied this question.