Abstract

Contrary to received interpretations, the work of Polish theatre director Jerzy Grotowski was a continuous and coherent whole. What bound its apparently disparate preoccupations and stages into a unity was a passionate and persistent concern with authentic human encounter---a concern European philosophers of the twentieth century have broadly termed "ethics." Grotowski began forming his ethical interest at a very young age, partly through his reading of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber , whom he continued to study throughout his life. When Grotowski's work is read through the 'lens' of Buber's writings, the evidence of his ethical purposes becomes first obvious, then conclusive. This dissertation strives to read Grotowski as an ethicist and presents some of the evidence that supports this reading. ;The dissertation's Forward introduces its stylistic treatment of Grotowski's highly colloquial and metaphorical discourse. ;Chapter One investigates Buber's and Grotowski's shared interests in the ethical dimensions of Hasidism, theatre, psychology, and Eastern spirituality, and the unity Grotowski makes of these in his discourse and his life. ;Chapter Two examines Grotowski's ethical responses to the culturally dominant influences of Roman Catholicism and Polish Communism. ;Chapter Three sets forth a fundamental tenet of Grotowski's ethical thought: the enabling role of a certain kind of psychological distance in every authentic, human encounter. ;Chapter Four applies this principle to the encounter of actor and audience. Chapter Five describes the ethical response, which Grotowski calls the "total act," that enables this encounter to be authentic. ;The Conclusion suggests how the total act, when achieved, both transcends and redeems everyday relationships. ;A brief Afterword reviews the potential contributions of the study. ;If Grotowski's work is considered only as a series of radical, disconnected experiments, its influence will undoubtedly subside. But if its deeper ethical impulse is brought forward, actors, directors, audiences, students, teachers, and critics will find in it a source of personal renewal and expressive power. Grotowski's ethical ideal will, as he hoped, awaken a desire to discard the superficialities and social artifices that compromise authentic human encounter, and give life to the theatrical traditions in which such encounters arise