Theatrical Timelessness in Teatr ZAR’s Creative Journey

Abstract

This article is devoted to Teatr ZAR and its creative journey, which includes rehearsals in the heart of Wrocław, field work in the Georgian village of Svaneti, and performances presented around the world. It explains the key dimensions of the company’s vision and focuses on ZAR’s major creations—from The Triptych to their most recent experiment, The Maids – Materials. It also establishes certain elements of continuity between Grotowski’s quest for a poor and pure theatre and Jarosław Fret’s constant search for a theatre of sound and presence. It seeks to affirm ZAR’s body of work as a link between this much revered Grotowskian legacy and the landscape of twenty-first century theatricality. Through this process of aesthetic, cultural and historical contextualization, it explores ZAR’s uniqueness in the field of contemporary anthropological performance.