52 minutes - 2011
In February 1980, guided by the theatre director Jerzy Grotowski, I discovered West Bengal and its mystical and rebellious musicians, the Bauls. The expedition was part of Grotowski’s research programme that he had baptised “Theatre of Sources”. Four other colleagues – three Europeans and one Haitian, were part of this journey – an initiatory journey that marked us all for life as much for what Grotowski passed on to us as for what India revealed. Grotowski died in 1999. His ashes were dispersed on the sacred mountain of Arunashala in Tamil Nadu, just as he desired. What remains of the archaic India that he remained so attached to until his death and from which he learned so much? What remains of this extraordinary man, this universal artiste who confronted everybody – spectator, actor, reader or disciple – with his or her own mysteries? This is a return to India and to Poland during which I will retrace my companions of the time and the inheritors of Grotowski: Back to the Sources.
