Abstract EN:

Alexandre Salzmann (S. ) can be considered a «paradoxical protagonist» of the beginning of the XX Century theatre: he can never be clearly identified among the protagonists, but he can always be discovered in all major events, which he appears to be one of the hidden engines of. Genial inventor (in Hellerau triad with Adolphe Appia and Émile Jaques-Dalcroze) of a lighting system created ad hoc for the masterpiece performance Orphée et Eurydice (1913), highly praised by all the theatre reformers and restless artists of the first half of the XX Century, S. Is celebrated all over Europe as maître des lumières / master of lights (Craig) and of the most imperceptible variations between shades of colours. Afterwards his itinerary (together with his wife, Jeanne) joins the one of Gurdjieff and his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man (Fontainebleau-Avon, 1922). In this research the historical reconstruction of S. Professional experience in Hellerau, first, and collaboration with Gurdjieff, then, has its foundations laid in the following questions: how were the two mentioned experiences linked, out of his relationship with his (future) wife Jeanne? Which was the junction of events and relationships that, as per the theatre that does not end into the performance (Grotowski), led him straight to the centre of the “science of the Movement”, as hinge of the science of the creative process, heart of the theatre of the XX Century? To conclude, in the history of theatre the core of S. Itinerary can only be intercepted in the complex entanglement of people, events and sites, while intentionally looking at it with an “upside-down” approach.