Hidden Territories (review)

Hidden Territories, by Gardzienice artistic director Wlodzimierz Staniewski and Alison Hodge, a senior lecturer in drama at Royal Holloway College, is an exceptional witness to the performance theories and practices of this extraordinary Polish theatre group. In 1977, seeking inspiration from the cultural heritage of local communities in rural Poland, The Centre for Theatre Practice (another name for Gardzienice) began traveling, collecting and exchanging songs, folklore, and cultural traditions. From this new natural environment of the theatre, the artists of Gardzienice developed original performance material. For them, this concept of traveling and gathering material opened a way of perceiving the world as an indissoluble whole.

The book is the culmination of a series of discussions occurring between Staniewski and Hodge during 2001–2003. Hodge's English text has successfully retained the rich texture of Staniewski's voice and its distinctive speech patterns. In the end, Staniewski and Hodge have created a clear and concise representation of the work of Gardzienice.

The discussion is divided into five sections, each offering a unique perspective into the performance and training techniques of Gardzienice. However, it is Hodge's introduction that sets the tone and offers some of the greatest insight to those unfamiliar with Staniewski's theories and work. This outline of his ideology clarifies the relationship of his performance work with ethnicity, identity, and ecology; his theories are based on the principles of music and textual montage, with emphasis on: 1) the interaction of the performance with the environment; 2) the extreme physicality of its actors; and 3) the integration of the artistic activities with the daily life of the communities within which Gardzienice performs. These "expeditions" are pivotal in the creation of Staniewski's work and position Gardzienice as unique among avant-garde theatre groups practicing today.

Early in the book, the authors try to address the question of why theatre is dying; the energy of Gardzienice is directly contrasted with what Staniewski identifies as the dispassionate quality of the administrative theatres of contemporary society. Although their answer is not unique, the explanation is refreshing.

The opening chapter, "Origins," gives a brief introduction to contemporary performance theory and the current performance practices of Gardzienice. It is a reference point without which a reader new to this work might be lost. The specificity and singularity of perspective here and throughout the text are intentional, since, as the authors note, "too many perspectives, negate or at least neutralize, the concept of truth, putting it in the archive of our active mental life" (24). Although previous publications have offered notes on Staniewski's philosophy and practice, the explanations offered in the subsequent chapters of this book are far clearer than those in earlier works.

Staniewski's notion of "miracle" and its religious connotation are highlighted throughout Hidden Territories: "every form of theatre in its beginning aspires to revelation" (27). Staniewski believes that the death of theatre is directly related to its loss of ritual or religious aspect. His own theatre is guided by three watchwords: metamorphosis, miracle, and revelation. His unique implementation of these ideas creates a balanced work that bypasses the exchange of mere information and creates a place of revelation and ritual.

The text in this book describes the work well; but what truly invites us into Gardzienice's world is the accompanying CD-ROM compiled by Peter Hulton, director and founder of Arts Archives. In addition to photographs, this powerful audio/visual tool gives its audience sixty-eight minutes of summaries, director notes, and performance excerpts; one often wishes that an entire performance were included to get a full sense of the work being done by Gardzienice. The CD-ROM is quite navigable and will be extremely useful to instructors and students in discussions and classroom demonstrations.

Gardzienice uncovers the cultural heritage of the communities it reaches and celebrates this heritage through theatre. One goal of this interaction is to create a dialogue between two very different cultural experiences, the urban...