On the Hidden Potential of Public Solitude, Part I: Ivan Vyskočil's Theatre as Encounter

In this essay, we introduce Ivan Vysko & ccaron;il (1929-2023), a Czech theatre maker, author, psychologist, and pedagogue - a case study par excellence for current studies on hybridization and transdisciplinarity as fosterers of creativity. Since Stanislavsky's public solitude has played a key role for Vysko & ccaron;il's concept of authorial acting and its pedagogy, we track down ways Vysko & ccaron;il elaborated on it as well as other resources that influenced his work (e. g. Brecht's V-effekt, or the Czech avant-garde movement). Our study comes in a two-part series. In this Essay I, we identify major shifts through which Vysko & ccaron;il transposed Stanislavsky's small circle of attention - originally a tool for actors to escape the audience's intimidating gaze - into the constitutive condition for theatre as encounter, in which the audience co-creates the play while it is emerging. Despite their origins on the big stage of the Moscow Art Theatre and its studios, it is argued here that Stanislavsky's public solitude and creative state reveal their full potential through small stage forms of authorial creativity - as Vysko & ccaron;il has shown via Non-Theatre productions and in journal articles. Essay II of this series then presents Vysko & ccaron;il's concept of dialogical and embodied education, especially when they cultivate the actor's inner positions of spectatorship and authorship. This approach characterizes studies at the Department of Authorial Creativity and Pedagogy, which Vysko & ccaron;il founded at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (DAMU) in 1994.

Automated summary

This essay introduces Ivan Vysko & ccaron;il, a Czech theatre maker and psychologist, and explores his concept of authorial acting, which is influenced by Stanislavsky's ideas but incorporates elements of hybridization and transdisciplinarity. The essay also discusses Vysko & ccaron;il's approach to education and his founding of the Department of Authorial Creativity and Pedagogy at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.