THE EXPEDITIONS OF KONSTANTIN STANISLAVSKY AND WLODZIMIERZ STANIEWSKI (Wyprawy Konstantego Stanislawskiego i Wlodzimierza Staniewskiego)

The inclusion of the Moscow Art Theatre (MKhAT) and the Centre for Theatre Practices 'Gardzienice' into a current of joint artistic tradition poses a difficult task. The activity of Konstantin Stanislavsky and Wlodzimierz Staniewski is separated by an enormous time difference - almost a century (which for the theatre coincided with an age of basic transformations). The aesthetic dissimilarity of the spectacles and ethos of the two theatres does not favour proposing any sort of a parallel associated with mutual impact on artistic undertakings (naturally, in this particular case such influence could follow only one direction). Nonetheless, the article attempts to compare some of the artistic and research initiatives (connected with travels) conducted by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Wlodzimierz Staniewski in view of the fact that at times they were strikingly similar, and in certain instances outright identical, despite the different consequences derived by the two men. Apparently, Stanislavsky longed to work in the countryside (which he described in My Life in Art), in conditions similar to those enjoyed by the Centre for Theatre Practices 'Gardzienice'. The Moscow Art Theatre (and its studios) embarked upon expeditions into the distant province, and its spectacles made use of the songs, gestures, objects and costumes discovered in their course of these journeys...The Stanislavsky theatre organised also other ventures comparable to the 'Gardzienice' Gatherings, when village residents, folk artists, displayed their skills in the seat of the theatre. More, Stanislavsky tried to examine the extent to which his 'naturalistic' spectacles could exist in natural space (for instance, a park). Finally, both Stanislavsky (together with Sulerzhitsky) and Staniewski formulated exceedingly radical theatrical utopias connected with travelling and abandoning the traditionally conceived theatre.