Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Kathleen Cioffi
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I Our Auschwitz: Grotowski's Akropolis
- Part II Our Memory: Kantor's Dead Class
- Chapter 22 Tadeusz Kantor: A Very Short Introduction
- Chapter 23 Dead Class: The Making of the Legend
- Chapter 24 Dead Class in Poland
- Chapter 25 The Polish History Lesson
- Chapter 26 Dead Class Abroad
- Chapter 27 On Not Knowing Polish, Again
- Chapter 28 The Visual and the Puerile
- Chapter 29 The National and the Transnational
- Chapter 30 Witkiewicz's Tumor
- Chapter 31 An Age of Genius: Bruno Schulz and the Return to Childhood
- Chapter 32 Conversing with Gombrowicz: The Dead, the Funny, the Sacred and the Profane
- Chapter 33 Panirony: “A pain with a smile and a shrug”
- Chapter 34 Raising the Dead
- Chapter 35 Dead Class as Kaddish…
- Chapter 36 Dead Class as Dybbuk, or the Absence
- Chapter 37 The Dead and the Marionettes
- Chapter 38 Men and Objects
- Chapter 39 Dead Class as Forefathers' Eve
- Chapter 40 Dead Class: The Afterlife
- Postscript
- Appendix
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 26 - Dead Class Abroad
from Part II - Our Memory: Kantor's Dead Class
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Kathleen Cioffi
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I Our Auschwitz: Grotowski's Akropolis
- Part II Our Memory: Kantor's Dead Class
- Chapter 22 Tadeusz Kantor: A Very Short Introduction
- Chapter 23 Dead Class: The Making of the Legend
- Chapter 24 Dead Class in Poland
- Chapter 25 The Polish History Lesson
- Chapter 26 Dead Class Abroad
- Chapter 27 On Not Knowing Polish, Again
- Chapter 28 The Visual and the Puerile
- Chapter 29 The National and the Transnational
- Chapter 30 Witkiewicz's Tumor
- Chapter 31 An Age of Genius: Bruno Schulz and the Return to Childhood
- Chapter 32 Conversing with Gombrowicz: The Dead, the Funny, the Sacred and the Profane
- Chapter 33 Panirony: “A pain with a smile and a shrug”
- Chapter 34 Raising the Dead
- Chapter 35 Dead Class as Kaddish…
- Chapter 36 Dead Class as Dybbuk, or the Absence
- Chapter 37 The Dead and the Marionettes
- Chapter 38 Men and Objects
- Chapter 39 Dead Class as Forefathers' Eve
- Chapter 40 Dead Class: The Afterlife
- Postscript
- Appendix
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In his review of Dead Class, Bogdan Gieraczyński confidently wrote that “Dead Class is the most important and original Polish spectacle of the last decade. It is also one of the most famous, one which I believe will have a long and illustrious life abroad.” Shortly after its Polish premiere, Dead Class toured Holland, West Germany, France, Iran, Yugoslavia, Belgium, Italy, Australia, Venezuela, the USA, Switzerland and Mexico. It played in London, Paris, Amsterdam, Nancy, Belgrade, Milan, Syndey, Barcelona, Graz, Lyon, Lille, Stuttgart, Majorca, Caracas and New York City. In June, 1981, six years after its premiere, Dead Class was reported as having been performed 550 times worldwide. Altogether, in the 17 years of its travels, the spectacle played over 2000 times all over the world.
In the first week of the Edinburgh Festival, Dead Class won the Scotsman award for originality and high artistic value. Reviews were unanimously positive: “The visual impact of the performance is tremendous. […] it is quite simply agonizing. […] simply astounding” – wrote Fringe's Brian Barron. Gordon Parson of the Morning Star called the show “Outstanding.” An anonymous account of Cricot 2's visit to Edinburgh reveals the level of anticipation surrounding Kantor's show:
[The] enthusiasm of some informal Scottish cultural circles resulted in special care offered to the actors who were provided, for instance, with extremely attractive though distanced (over 30 kms from Edinburgh) lodgings in an old Scottish manor house of Mrs. Matilda O'Brien at Peebles. [The i]nitiative, devotion and personal commitment of Richard Demarco, owner of the art gallery and David Gothard, a young stage director, helped enormously to build an excellent atmosphere around the Polish troupe. The Edinburgh premiere was honoured by the presence of the Polish Ambassador to Great Britain, Mr. Artur Starewicz.
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- The Post-traumatic Theatre of Grotowski and KantorHistory and Holocaust in 'Akropolis' and 'Dead Class', pp. 201 - 203Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2012