| 'Bafflement in the face of an inexplicable universe is the
metaphysical feeling which Witkacy claimed the theater should arouse in
the audience. In An Introduction to the Theory of Pure Form in the
Theater, Witkacy proposes a new kind of play which will be liberated
from the confines of imitating life and instead make a synthesis of all
the elements of the theater - sound, setting, gesture, dialogue - for
purely formal ends. Freed from the demands of consistent psychology and
logic, the dramatist will be able to use his materials as the musician
uses notes and the modern painter uses colors and shapes. The meaning of
such a work lies in its internal construction, not in the discursive
content of its subject matter. We are transported into an entirely new
world that is free and unpredictable.'
Daniel Gerould & CS
Durer, from the introduction to The
Madman and the Nun (NY: Applause, 1989)
Witkacy: 'On leaving the theatre, the
spectator ought to have the feeling that he has just awakened from some
strange dream, in which even the most ordinary things had a strange,
unfathomable charm, characteristic of dream reveries, and unlike
anything else in the world.'
Words that could be used
to describe a Witkacy play:
absurd
surreal
unpredictable
playful
burlesque
bizarre
grotesque
parody
baffling
nightmare
dialectic
prophetic
a game
a plurality of reality
a search to express metaphysical feeling
a reflection of the inexplicable mystery of being
Witkacy on Pure Form in the
Theatre
Lecture,
Warsaw, 1921
|