“The following are a few additional
explanations and comments:
engulfed within this gnawing turbulence of
reflections, feelings, doubts,
and hopes…
I need to set
my past in order,
I need to review
my ideas
in the context of here
and now,
I need to put old ideas aside into the chest of
memory – simply,
I need to clear the field
of action
for my new production.
My room on-stage
and the plot. (…)
The action takes place on-stage.
A real action. Let us assume so.
I have decided to move in and live on-stage –
I have here my bed, my table,
my chair, and, of course, my paintings.
I have often imagined
my room in a theatre,
inside of the theatre, on-stage,
rather than in a hotel.
So, my – as I call it –
Poor Room of Imagination
is placed on-stage.
I have to arrange it.
It should not look like a stage room.
I will assemble on-stage, in this room of mine,
all the objects
as though I really decided to live here.
A bed, a table, a chair,
a door (important),
a stove with a pipe, and
“canvases”
on easels.”
(Tadeusz Kantor, manuscripts stored in the Archives of Cricoteka, No.: I/000142)
Translated by: Ludmila Ryba and Michal Kobialka