“Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear”

The cricotage entitled „Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear” was a short performance, lasting less than half an hour, prepared by Tadeusz Kantor at the turn of 1978 and 1979. It was first staged for the occasion of two exhibitions, “Tadeusz Kantor and the Artist from the Cricot 2 Theatre” and “Polish Avant-garde 1910–1978” at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Roma in January 1979. Three years later, a slightly different version was performed in Paris and London (1982), Geneva (1983) and Warsaw (1984). In the programme for the first performance of “Where Are the Snows of Yesteryear”, the artist clarified the significance of the genre: “Cricotage is a type of action that has resulted from the experience of Cricot 2 Theatre and the acting method developed and practiced by that theatre. Cricotage operates in REALITY. Liberated from any form of ‘plot’. Its fragments, relics and traces are taken by force from IMAGINATION… and can be torn or collapse any moment. This sense of danger and approaching catastrophe is a crucial feature of Cricotage (…).”