Akropolis (1969)

Complete shooting of the iconic avant-garde theatre production of Akropolis by Teatr Laboratorium-Wroclaw (Poland). The performance is based on Stanislaw Wyspianski's poetic drama written between 1903 and 1904, and set on the night of Easter Saturday with works of art in the Wawel Cathedral in Kraków coming to life. Wyspianski's text combines Biblical themes, Homeric sequences and Mediterranean culture with themes from Polish history. Grotowski's version transferred the play in a concentration camp. In the performance, then, Auschwitz became our Acropolis - a synthesis of the contemporary age - whereby the grand myths of Western civilization are confronted with the Holocaust. Shown for the first time in October 1962 in Opole, Poland, the performance underwent numerous changes in the following years. This TV recording takes the fifth and final version, which was first performed in 1967 in Wroclaw, and then toured throughout Europe and eventually New York.