The Prince (2014)
archival materials, The Prince film, Rehearsal performance, photographs, series of Ryszard Cieslak paintings
The Prince project is attempt to take another look at mythical theatre director Jerzy Grotowski – through examining his most famous actor, Ryszard Cieślak. His role in The Constant Prince (1966) was a breakthrough in his development as an actor, and a clear example of how radical Grotowski was in the way he worked with the body. Radziszewski reconstructs Cieślak’s biography on the basis of surviving fragments of performances, recordings of rehearsals, letters, and interviews. The Prince project is based on archival materials and, at the same time, it is improvised and played out, in order to blur the borders between historical facts and potential fantasies. In the frame of The Prince project Radziszewski also recalls the Polish Thanatos - the last performance of the "Laboratory Theatre" group, directed by Ryszard Cieślak and featuring Teresa Nawrot, the actress, who was Grotowski's long-time assistant and Cieślak’s lover.
More about The Prince film here.
More about the Rehearsal performance here.
More about the Ryszard Cieślak series of paintings here.
