Gardzienice: Expedition to the Ukraine

The Association of Theatrical Practices Gardzienice was founded in 1976 by Wlodzimierz Staniewski in a village near Lublin, which remains the group's headquarters to this day. Staniewski had just finished a five-year period of collaboration with Jerzy Grotowski’s Teatr Laboratorium. The group does create theatrical productions, but its main work is to conduct research into folk culture, as well as ethnic and anthropological studies. Members of the group take part in expeditions. There the shape of future productions is formed, productions which are evolving more and more closely towards modern mystery plays, restoring tragedy from the spirit of music. In this documentary, the process of the very particular "ethno-theatrical" expeditions that Gardzienice Centre was making in the past is portrayed. It shows the preparation, the way that the interactions with local communities happened, and how the material that was collected later informed them during the creation of performances.