This paper aims at analysing the book Jerzy Grotowski. Il superamento della rappresentazione by Marco De Marinis, in which the author summarizes the fundamental elements which delineate Grotowski’s intellectual
and practical heritage. De Marinis investigates the main quest undertaken by
Grotowski, which tends to find the essence of human being, usually covered
by social and cultural masks. To do so, the maestro challenges representation,
and envisages a form of theatre that is a tool for the actor to work on himself,
towards the breaking of their existence as a subject to societal constraints. This
essay particularly considers some significant moments of Grotowski’s artistic
life: within, at, and beyond the borders of representation, within and beyond
theatre. It finally asserts that De Marinis’s book is a fundamental work for
understanding the multifaceted nature of Grotowski’s creative and profoundly
human endeavor.