Zygmunt Molik


Received e-mail this afternoon
Dear colleagues: As many of you will have worked with him and many others will know much about him, this is just to let you know the sad news that Zygmunt Molik died last night at 6 pm in Wroclaw hospital.
... checked the The Grotowski Institute ... the words confirmed ... I had been told he had been bed ridden this past while and even last week had dreamt of a passing ... still for a moment time eternal stopped ... why must we suffer losses?
"The secret lies in the voice, sound as whole and pure as it’s possible. Its essence is to release and awake the middle part of the body. Different parts of the body are very often separated: the head is separated, the legs… We are blocked. As a result of combining vocal and body excersises we reach the point, where the whole organism is active in speaking and singing." (Zygmunt Molik)


... Zygmunt Molik's Voice and Body Work the Leagacy of Jerzy Grotowski was published eight days ago ... thirty five years ago (1975) during the University for the Exploration of a Theatre of Nations organized by Grotowski and the Laboratory Theatre I attended a session called Acting Therapy ... my movement from desire to practical research began at that moment ... a cultural, raison d'être explosion ... from Wroclaw, Vienna, Venice, to Toronto opportunities came to work with this master of wry humour and deliberate understatement ...

... once while I attempted a profound explanation of the voice/text I was exploring he responded: "I know nothing of that but please tilt your head to the side" ... he was right ... an oracle that confounded and comforted ... from then on, as much as my tendency was towards the sacred & holy, he urged the work to be deeply practical ... his gaze scrutinized your work with a dense silence belying the impish sparkle just beneath the calm, reserved exterior ... the precious few things I pass on came from him ... his was a gentle soul compressed into total concentration ... I know not where he now voices but for the time being I will tilt my head to the side & quietly honour his departed presence ...

... I will in each breath inhale the many hundred particles of his vibrational wisdom that will eventually be a new inch of topsoil & wash into the textwork ocean ... on a shore eight thousand waves break a day ... that is how we suffer loss ...

- See: Memorium

:: note :: ... he was my teacher/guide ... cannot miss him for he lives within me ... my wife shared a story of after watching him smoke at every workshop break only to search for foil or empty bottle or whatever to dispose of the butts she gifted him a simple ashtray ... he lovingly treasured the gift, washing it each day ... his foot was as light as that of a four-year-old ... my lasting image is him sprawled in a corner of the old work studio at Sonnenfelsgasse with eyes closed listening intently to the work & smiling ...

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