Although far from comprehensive, these texts and videos are a starting point for those interested in APL’s artistic influences.

Things to Read

By Jerzy Grotowski
By Others

Things to Watch Online

Jerzy Grotowski / Polish Laboratory Theatre
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Peter Brook
Eugenio Barba / Odin Teatret
Samuel Beckett

Things to Read

In addition to the work authored by Zhenya and Joseph Lavy on our Research & Writings page, we recommend these books, articles, and essays as central to understanding APL’s artistic heritage:

By Jerzy Grotowski

• Towards a Poor Theatre
• “Performer”
• “Art of the Beginner”
• “Exercises”
• “The Voice”
• “Tu es le fils de quelqu’un”  [“You Are Someone’s Son”]. The Drama Review: TDR. Vol. 31, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 30-41 (JSTOR link)

By others

• At Work With Grotowski on Physical Actions, Thomas Richards
• 20^th Century Actor Training, Alison Hodge, editor
• The Invisible Actor, Yoshi Oida
• The Empty Space, Peter Brook
• Rabelais and His World, Mikhail Bakhtin

Things to Watch Online

Grotowski/Polish Laboratory Theatre

• Grotowski Interview on Poor Theatre (in Polish, but click CC for English subtitles)
• Akropolis
• Rehearsal Film of Hamlet Study
• The Laboratory of Grotowski (with footage of Training and a scene from The Constant Prince)
• Scenes of Doctor Faustus from Michael Elster’s film Letter from Opole
• Polish TV Documentary on Teatr Laboratorium (includes clips of early productions, rehearsals, exercises, etc):
  • Part 1
  • Part 2
  • Part 3
  • Part 4
• Grotowski Interview in French, featuring rehearsal footage from “The Gospels”
• Rena Mirecka doing Platiques
• Ryzard Cieslak with Margaret Croyden on The Exercises
  • Plastiques
    • Part 1 
    • Part 2
    • Part 3
  • Corporals
    • Part 1 
    • Part 2 
    • Part 3

Vsevolod Meyerhold

• Biomechanics Etudes performed by Meyerhold’s actors
• Gennadi Bogdanov, fragments of a work demonstration of Biomechanics, May 1996, from the Odin Teatret Archive
• Meyerhold’s Inspector General, rare footage

Peter Brook

• Conversation with Mark Lawson about his 2013 book The Quality of Mercy: Reflections on Shakespeare (2013)
• Interview with Charlie Rose (January 2013)
• Film version of Brook’s King Lear, starring Paul Scofield and Irene Worth (1970)
• Sacred Dances filmed for Brook’s adaptation of Gurdjieff’s Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979)
• Lecture on The Art of the Present, Tel Aviv University (May 23, 2005 | skip to 6:30 for Brook)

Eugenio Barba/Odin Teatret

• Physical Training at Odin Teatret 1972:
  • Excerpts
  • Complete Film with Commentary by Barba
• Excerpts from Salt, featuring Roberta Carreri and Jan Ferslev (2008)

Samuel Beckett

• Quad
• Come and Go