To work until you find something “not banal” is director Grzegorz Bral’s modest description of the aims of the Teatr Piesn Kozla, Song of the Goat Theatre. This Polish theatre company is currently one of the most innovative and exciting in Europe. Although in its 12 - year history it has produced only a handful shows, Teatr Piesn Kozla has already won an impressive array of international prizes, which is testament to its extraordinary work. Its show, Chronicles – a lamentation won the Best International Show Edinburgh 2004, the Scotsman Fringe First, the Herald Angel at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2004, and the Grand Prix at Poland’s Festival of Acting in Kalisz.

The Piesn Kozla Theatre was set up in 1996 by Grzegorz Bral and his wife Anna Zubrzycki. Bral, who directs all of the productions, is also the Artistic Director of the Brave Festival in Poland, which stands against cultural exile, supporting and displaying art from vanishing cultures and traditions across the world. The festival showcases dances, songs, stories, rituals, and ceremonies of marginalized groups trying to protect their cultural identities, spirituality and beliefs. “We give them a voice, and dignity, and we want our young Polish generation to meet people that are ‘different’ to us,” says Bral. This year members of certain African tribes, who have never previously travelled beyond their own villages, have been invited to perform. All of the revenue from the ticket sales is given to a Swiss charity which helps to educate over 10 000 orphaned children in Tibet.

The company began its life at the Jerzy Grotowski Centre for Theatre culture Research in Wroclaw. In 2002 the members moved into their own space, the refectory of a 14th century monastery in the heart of Wroclaw. Members of the company all live separately, but come to the Gothic space for rehearsals, which take up the majority of each day, and they often do not finish until late into the night. Much of the daytime is dedicated to fundraising, administration and “discusions on how to the survive the next year.” As is the situation for many theatre companies, “it’s a big struggle to survive”.

Although based in Poland, the company includes performers from France, Sweden, Norway and the UK, as a result of its array of workshops, which take place across Europe. In fact, you can study the company’s own unique way of working as part of an MA in acting at the Manchester Metropolitan University School of Theatre. Every two years a group of 12 to 14 students from about ten nationalities go to Wroclaw to train in their techniques, and receive a Pg Diploma, before going on to do their own practical research in an MA project.

While it follows in the long tradition of Polish ensemble theatre work, the company has developed its own unique avant-garde style through dedicated research into vocal and movement techniques. Bral states that one of the aims of the company is the continual search “for a deep and honest acting technique,” which is based around the specific needs of the individual actor. He compares the training of an actor to that of a musician, and questions why it is that a musician must practice for many years before they are allowed to play professionally, but “we think that actors can be qualified enough after two or three years of acting school?” Song of the Goat however believe in investing many years in the training of its performers.

When explaining how the company’s performance grows out of unique rehearsal methods, Bral describes the “essence” of their work as a focus of “co-ordination, which is based on the understanding that there is a direct flow between what we think, what we say and what we do. That all things are interconnected - between people, nature, nations, and so on. In our theatre, our art, this is reflected in our constant search for connecting acting tools: words, gestures, melodies, rhythm, imagination, timing. Every rehearsal is a laboratory session.” For Zubrzyck it is “non-literal, poetic theatre…every performance is different…it’s like playing jazz…. It is a way in which I, as a performer, can funnel all of my sensations, emotions and understandings at a given moment, but I know that I will never lose control.”

Lacrimosa, which showed at the Edinburgh Festival in 2007, was not based on one specific narrative, but developed through the company’s research into a range of areas. One aspect was the history of the French city of Arras, which during the 15th century suffered a succession of devastating plagues. The performance also drew on the music of the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem. Not only this, but the physical aspects were heavily inspired by the movements of the practitioners of the ancient Greek fire-walking cult of Anastenaria. When asked what connects these three seemingly unrelated sources, Bral explained that they are linked by the concept of the human mind being “possessed.” Indeed, when watching Lacrimosa, it was hard not to be transfixed by this extraordinary piece of work. This summer the company will be touring across France to perform the show. They are also currently working on a production of Macbeth, part of which has already been presented at the RSC in Stratford as part of the ‘Complete Works’ festival.

Song of the Goat is a completely unique company, unlike any in the UK. Bral recognizes that they are “very privileged” to able to dedicate years to rehearsals, before a final show is produced. Such extensive preparation is something which is almost unheard of in the acting world, as most “contemporary companies are forced to search for popularity and success, in order to survive.” According to Bral, one of the major problems at the moment is that “modern theatre is in competition, and not in contemplation.” This is the beauty of Song of the Goat: their lengthy and detailed investment into research, the development of acting techniques, and extensive rehearsals. The result is the creation of truly mesmerizing and exceptionally distinctive theatre.