![](http://static.cambridge.org/content/id/urn:cambridge.org:id:book:9780857285263/resource/name/9780857285263i.jpg)
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Kathleen Cioffi
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I Our Auschwitz: Grotowski's Akropolis
- Chapter 1 Jerzy Grotowski: A Very Short Introduction
- Chapter 2 Native Son: Grotowski in Poland
- Chapter 3 Grotowski: The Polish Context
- Chapter 4 Grotowski, the Messiah: Coming to America
- Chapter 5 The Making of an Aura
- Chapter 6 On Not Knowing Polish
- Chapter 7 “In Poland: That is to Say, Nowhere”
- Chapter 8 Akropolis/Necropolis
- Chapter 9 The Vision and the Symbol
- Chapter 10 “This Drama as Drama Cannot Be Staged”
- Chapter 11 Two National Sacrums
- Chapter 12 “Hollow Sneering Laughter”: Mourning the Columbuses
- Chapter 13 Against Heroics
- Chapter 14 Representing the Unrepresentable
- Chapter 15 Trip to the Museum
- Chapter 16 Bearing the Unbearable
- Chapter 17 The Living and the Dead
- Chapter 18 Jacob's Burden
- Chapter 19 The Final Descent
- Chapter 20 Textual Transpositions
- Chapter 21 Akropolis After Grotowski
- Part II Our Memory: Kantor's Dead Class
- Postscript
- Appendix
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 19 - The Final Descent
from Part I - Our Auschwitz: Grotowski's Akropolis
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Foreword by Kathleen Cioffi
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- List of Illustrations
- Introduction
- Part I Our Auschwitz: Grotowski's Akropolis
- Chapter 1 Jerzy Grotowski: A Very Short Introduction
- Chapter 2 Native Son: Grotowski in Poland
- Chapter 3 Grotowski: The Polish Context
- Chapter 4 Grotowski, the Messiah: Coming to America
- Chapter 5 The Making of an Aura
- Chapter 6 On Not Knowing Polish
- Chapter 7 “In Poland: That is to Say, Nowhere”
- Chapter 8 Akropolis/Necropolis
- Chapter 9 The Vision and the Symbol
- Chapter 10 “This Drama as Drama Cannot Be Staged”
- Chapter 11 Two National Sacrums
- Chapter 12 “Hollow Sneering Laughter”: Mourning the Columbuses
- Chapter 13 Against Heroics
- Chapter 14 Representing the Unrepresentable
- Chapter 15 Trip to the Museum
- Chapter 16 Bearing the Unbearable
- Chapter 17 The Living and the Dead
- Chapter 18 Jacob's Burden
- Chapter 19 The Final Descent
- Chapter 20 Textual Transpositions
- Chapter 21 Akropolis After Grotowski
- Part II Our Memory: Kantor's Dead Class
- Postscript
- Appendix
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Thematically and structurally, Grotowski's theatrical vision of European civilization negates Wyspiański's: resurrection is replaced by voluntary descent into the underworld. In the final scene, the prisoners follow the headless ragdoll into the crematorium which they have just built, shutting the covers behind them. As they disappear into the hole, they sing a triumphant song. Are they oblivious? Ironic? Defying? Grotowski describes the scene as an inversion of Wyspiański's ending, a form of cruel variation on the Easter procession:
At the end of Wyspiański's play, the Savior arrives. But in Auschwitz the savior never came for those who were killed. […] The final procession was the march to the crematorium. The prisoners took a corpse and they began to sing: “Here is our Savior.” All the processions disappear into the hole during the song of triumph.
Kalemba-Kasprzak notes that there is an element of “religious fervor” in the prisoners’ procession, as “One by one, they disappear into the trunk that now is their coffin. Once the last prisoner is gone and the cover is shut, the voice coming from inside recites two lines from Wyspiański's text: ‘they're gone – and smoke circles linger above.’” The scene attempts to represent metaphorically one very specific aspect of Auschwitz life. Customarily, Germans would employ a number of strategies to prevent the creation of martyrs, whose elevated status could inspire and unite the prisoners.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Post-traumatic Theatre of Grotowski and KantorHistory and Holocaust in 'Akropolis' and 'Dead Class', pp. 147 - 149Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2012