Schulz According to Complicite. Instability, Metamorphosis, and Fluidity

The primary aim of this paper is to discuss the staging of The Street of Crocodiles by the group Complicite in 1992. The performance was based on Bruno Schulz’s “The Street of Crocodiles” and “Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hour Glass” and was inspired by his biography. Complicite is at present one of the most exciting British theater groups with an international focus. In relating the history of Complicite, as well as its foundations and methods, the author shows how its production of “The Street of Crocodiles” represented an attempt to capture the fluid and changing reality found in Schulz’s prose. Moving away from the primacy of the text, and shifting the centre of gravity to the physical and creative dimensions of the performance made it possible to create art deeply immersed in the Schulzian universe. What seems untranslatable has been translated onto the stage, and Schulz’ prose has proven to be an excellent means for rendering it in accordance with contemporary sensibilities.