{"id":411,"date":"2017-10-29T08:55:43","date_gmt":"2017-10-29T08:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/16\/?p=411"},"modified":"2025-03-15T10:34:47","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T10:34:47","slug":"touchingcrossing-the-border-interview-with-kamila-klamut-and-ewa-pasikowska-teatr-zar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.critical-stages.org\/16\/touchingcrossing-the-border-interview-with-kamila-klamut-and-ewa-pasikowska-teatr-zar\/","title":{"rendered":"Touching\/Crossing the Border: Interview with Kamila Klamut and Ewa Pasikowska (Teatr Zar)"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Tina Peric*<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Kamila Klamut<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Ewa Pasikowska<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In 1999, almost forty years after the first experiments of Jerzy Grotowski, in the heart of the Laboratory Theatre\u2019s space, a new movement of performance research was about to emerge. Jaros\u0142aw Fret, the future director of the Grotowski Institute in Wroc\u0142aw (Poland), and Kamila Klamut were set in motion towards the East, to the origins of Christian polyphonic singing. A few years later, in the course of research based in Armenia and Georgia, the ensemble was born. It was named after zar<\/em>, traditional funeral singing still practised in a forgotten language in Svanetia and based on local scales that have nothing to do with the western system of equal temperament.<\/p>\n

Teatr Zar stood in front of a remarkably challenging task: to perform zar<\/em> in an authentic manner. Its members went through an extensive and committed process of preparation in order to tune the ear and the body. Since then, Teatr Zar has become internationally acknowledged and prized as one of the most original and significant exponents of the contemporary theatre. They produced not more than six performances (including the interdisciplinary project Armine, Sister<\/em>), all results of long and dedicated ensemble research.<\/p>\n

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Overture. Fragments on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood<\/em>, Zar Theatre. Photo by Tom Dombrowski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With Kamila Klamut, one of the pillars of Teatr Zar, and Ewa Pasikowska, a former long-standing member of Zar, we talked about their creative process in Zar, their sources of inspiration, but also about their personal doubts and transgressions as performers.<\/p>\n

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Overture. Fragments on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood<\/em>, Zar Theatre. Photo by Tom Dombrowski<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Video 1<\/h6>\n