Madness and Method: Improvisation in the Theatre of the Eighth Day

Abstract

Lech Raczak, the director of the Theatre of the Eighth Day for twenty-five years, describes the method of physical improvisation derived from Jerzy Grotowski that the troupe used to create productions. The Eighth Day used Grotowski’s methods to create productions that were very different in tone and content from those that Grotowski’s Laboratory Theatre created. They became famous for their stance of opposition to the Communist regime.