Women, Transmission, and Creative Agency in the Grotowski Diaspora

Abstract

Central to the teaching of women in the Grotowski diaspora is the exacting physical and vocal training that has become emblematic of Grotowski-based work, as demonstrated by Ryszard Cieslak in the 1975 documentary The Body Speaks. Interestingly, it is not Grotowski’s leading actor Cieslak who developed the exercises featured in this film, but Rena Mirecka, Grotowski’s leading actress. Magnat therefore raises the question of legacy, given Grotowski’s choice to entrust the official transmission of his work to male heirs, in spite of key contributions by women such as Mirecka. Magnat contends that the training transmitted by women in the Grotowski diaspora calls into question gendered conceptions of creative agency, and she traces the confidence these women demonstrate in their abilities to the trust they have developed in their body’s capacity.