4 from ritual to theater and back: the efficacy ... - AAAARG.ORG

from ritual to theater and back 169
1974: 1121). One “locates” a performance by using the coordinates of efficacy
and entertainment.
28 In TPG’s Commune there was one night an interruption of more than three
hours. During that time the spectators and the performers came to know and
interact with each other in ways much more actual than is usual in a theater.
When Commune resumed there was a feeling surrounding the performance
that added power to it – a ritual sense of having gone through something and
now needing to complete the show. The supper in Mother Courage was an
attempt at building in the kind of interaction/relationship between performers
and spectators that occurred only occasionally – and usually as conflict – in
Commune (see Schechner 1973: 49–56).
29 Grotowski’s paratheatrical work is described in detail in Burzynski and Osinski
1979, Kumiega 1985, and Osinski 1986. Paratheater involved not only Grotowski
but members of his company working on their own on such projects as
Acting Therapy, Vigil, Meditations Aloud, and Soundings. The events took from a
few hours to several weeks and used all kinds of spaces from rooms where
workshops were held to pilgrimages through the countryside.