At nearly two and half hours, this 1991 documentary / tribute attempts to offer an insightful but at times slow study into this Polish theatre practitioner. The content basically cuts between an intimate interview with Kantor, archival footage of his performances and his design illustrations. I found some of the interview / design sections quite fascinating whilst other sections of the performance footage dragged on, out of context. A lot of the performance footage has the muffled soundtrack of a formal female narrator attempting to explain / interpret the performance which becomes tiresome and gets in the way of our enjoyment of the footage. However, the more recent performance footage gets better treatment.
Obviously, access to such resources from any theatre director / designer are rare and I do appreciate the opportunity to view them at all. From a historical / theatrical perspecive, this DVD offers an insight into this period of radical theatre and the avant garde, exploring the relationship between art, painting, object design and an "informal theatre of chance" happenings.
As a teaching tool for High School Drama students, I believe this documentary would make a very tough dry experience but as a Drama teacher, I found "The Theatre of Tadeusz Kantor" useful viewing. It should be another helpful teaching resource to broad student understanding of what theatre is and can be!
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