Theatre History Overview - Part 56 - Poor Theatre

Poor theatre took place between 1959 and 1970. This was non-commercial theatre and most of the works did not reach performance. The main person behind this movement was the Polish theatre director Jerzy Grotowski (said "Yair zhay Graw toff skee").

Poor theatre did away with all lavish elements, sometimes leaving only a bare stage and actors. Costumes were generic and did not indicate the character. An actor may have worn the same clothes as himself and as the character. Props were few to none as well.

The concentration of poor theatre was on the communication between actors and the audience. The audience was often placed on all sides of the stage. Sometimes people of the audience were even interspersed throughout the actors.

Acting in poor theatre was to be authentic. Many of Stanislavsky's ideas from his method were used. However, poor theatre was more physical than Stanislavsky's methods. There are not any specific scripts for poor theatre. Rather, any script can be directed in the style of poor theatre.

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