The time when the new light is born

Ewa Benesz's Paratheatre as a collective and individual performative process

Abstract

The subject of this report is the paratheatrical laboratory In the Act of Creating: Meeting with the Lentisk, led by Ewa Benesz. The contribution provides insight into this work, focusing on the key elements that characterise it as both an individual and collective artistic process. Benesz is one of the most important representatives of paratheatre, a participatory artistic practice initiated in 1969 by Jerzy Grotowski as part of the activities of the Wrocław Laboratory Theatre. In the article, I offer my own testimony of the workshop held at Ca’Colmello in Italy in January 2020, focusing on the analogy between the transformation of the lentisk plant and the inner process of the performer. Each paratheatrical encounter is unique and unrepeatable: through improvised actions, the participants give life to an extemporary theatrical creation in the absence of an audience. The purpose of the report is to provide an account of the work that highlights its particular dramaturgical dimension, which is not fixed and is capable of generating, welcoming, and integrating the proposals of both group and individual performers.