The art of intonation presents two trips to Moscow of Jerzy Grotowski: the first during his student years in 1956 and the second as a globally acclaimed director in 1976. Under the moniker “Apprentice”, Grotowski engages in two conversations with the “Master”, a figure unmistakably resembling Yuri Zawadski – a Russian actor and director whom the Polish creator regarded as one of his masters. Through anecdotes, Zawadski imparts to the Apprentice his approach to uncovering the essence of theater: the titular “art of intonation”, which he discovered together with Vakhtangov. Moreover, he imparts an important lesson to Grotowski: after detailing an extensive list of national titles, awards, and decorations, showcasing a telephone with a direct line to the Kremlin, and describing luxuries, limousines, and a passport granting him the ability to travel all over the world, he also says, “Don't take this path. It's not worth it”.
Slobodzianek's play is part of a series of Quartets – chamber plays written during the pandemic. While each stands as an independent work, the dramas interweave seamlessly, complementing each other through shared ideas, form, and subject matter. The author blends in varying proportion historical facts, meticulously gathered through in-depth research, with anecdotes, gossip or even fiction. This strategy allows the exploration of the great ideas of twentieth-century theater history, where prominent artists engage in discussions amidst the constant interference of politics in matters of art. Meyerhold's biomechanics clashes with Stanislavsky's method of physical action, and Kantor meets Grotowski in a café in Kraków. And it is the founder of the Theatre of 13 Rows, appearing as the protagonist of most of the Quartets, who turns out to be of particular interest to the author. However, as Dariusz Kosiński notes in the afterword to the book edition of the Quartets, the focus is not on studying and interpreting Grotowski’s work. Instead, he “appears as one who, through his very presence, poses inquiries about theater and the sense of theater-making”. This is the reason why appreciating Slobodzianek's series doesn't demand a background in theater history. It is not just the brilliantly written, dynamically flowing dialogues, but also the profoundly relevant questions posed about the intricate relationship between art and politics in today's context.
Upon Grotowski's return to Zawadski after two decades, it turns out that the Apprentice has surpassed the Master. Now, it is the Polish director who shares tales of his discoveries and career, detailing his departure from theater in pursuit of the truth about humanity. He reflects on the concept of the total act and, ultimately, introduces the idea of the interpersonal church as a community of shared experiences beyond the confines of traditional theater. Meanwhile, the art of intonation turned out to be completely “useless”, and the Master's groundbreaking discovery turned out to be just one of many now forgotten aesthetics, now relegated to the shadows of forgotten artistic approaches.
Simultaneously, the Master poses the impertinent yet crucial question: “Who will pay for it?”. Grotowski's communal experiments, as it turns out, are made possible through government funding and the director's affiliation with the party. Słobodzianek, however, has no interest in accusing Grotowski of hypocrisy, let alone settling which of the great theatrical ideas is the most important. Instead, the focus turns to the desperate cry of the dying Master: “Jerzy, only in the theater are we free...”. As the art of intonation breathes its last breath with Zawadski, and the Apprentice proclaims the death of theater, Słobodzianek doesn't attempt to express the vision of a uniform history of the theater, but rather to show his concern for the place of art in society.