![Eugenio Barba (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Eugenio_Barba_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Eugenio Barba (born 29 October 1936) is an Italian author and theatre director based in Denmark. He is the founder of the
Odin Theatre and the
International School of Theatre Anthropology
The International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) is an international and multi-cultural network of performers, directors, scholars and academics of the theatre. Based in the Odin Teatret, Denmark, the organization has the nature of an itiner ...
, both located in
Holstebro
Holstebro is the main town in Holstebro Municipality, Denmark. The town, bisected by ''Storåen'' ("The Large Creek") and has a population of 36,489 (1 January 2022).[Brindisi
Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.
Histo ...]
and grew up in
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...
,
Lecce Province
The Province of Lecce ( it, Provincia di Lecce; Salentino: ) is a province in the Apulia region of Italy whose capital is the city of Lecce. The province is called the "Heel of Italy". Located on the Salento peninsula, it is the second most-po ...
, Italy. After leaving the
Nunziatella military academy of
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
in 1954, he emigrated to Norway to work as a welder and sailor. He also took degrees in French, Norwegian literature, and history of religion at
Oslo University
The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...
. In 1961 he went to
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
in Poland to study theatre direction at the State Theatre School, but left one year later to join
Jerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Marian Grotowski (; 11 August 1933 – 14 January 1999) was a Polish theatre director and theorist whose innovative approaches to acting, training and theatrical production have significantly influenced theatre today.
He was born in Rzesz ...
, who at that time was the leader of Teatr 13 Rzedow in
Opole
Opole (; german: Oppeln ; szl, Ôpole) ;
* Silesian:
** Silesian PLS alphabet: ''Ôpole''
** Steuer's Silesian alphabet: ''Uopole''
* Silesian German: ''Uppeln''
* Czech: ''Opolí''
* Latin: ''Oppelia'', ''Oppolia'', ''Opulia'' is a city loc ...
. Barba stayed with Grotowski for three years.
In 1963 he traveled to India where he had his first encounter with
Kathakali
Kathakali ( ml, കഥകളി) is a major form of classical Indian dance. It is a "story play" genre of art, but one distinguished by the elaborately colourful make-up and costumes of the traditional male actor-dancers. It is native to the M ...
. He wrote an essay on the form which was published in Italy, France, the U. S. and Denmark. His first book, ''In Search of a Lost Theatre'', was published in Italy and Hungary in 1965.
When Barba returned to Oslo in 1964, he wanted to become a professional theatre director, but as a foreigner he faced opposition. He and Norwegian author
Jens Bjørneboe
Jens Ingvald Bjørneboe (9 October 1920 – 9 May 1976) was a Norwegian writer whose work spanned a number of literary formats. He was also a painter and a Waldorf school teacher. Bjørneboe was a harsh and eloquent critic of Norwegian society an ...
gathered a group of people who had not passed their admission test to Oslo's State Theatre School and created the
Odin Teatret Odin Teatret is an avant-garde theatre group based in Holstebro, Denmark. It was founded by Italian theatre director and investigator Eugenio Barba in 1964. Odin Teatret is a part of NTL, Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium, which also includes the Inter ...
on 1 October 1964. The group trained and rehearsed in an air raid shelter. Their first production, ''Ornitofilene'', by Bjørneboe, was performed in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. They were subsequently offered an old farm and a small sum of money by the Danish municipality of
Holstebro
Holstebro is the main town in Holstebro Municipality, Denmark. The town, bisected by ''Storåen'' ("The Large Creek") and has a population of 36,489 (1 January 2022).[International School of Theatre Anthropology
The International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) is an international and multi-cultural network of performers, directors, scholars and academics of the theatre. Based in the Odin Teatret, Denmark, the organization has the nature of an itiner ...]
(ISTA). He is on the advisory boards of scholarly journals such as ''
The Drama Review
''TDR: The Drama Review'' is an academic journal focusing on performances in their social, economic, aesthetic, and political contexts. The journal covers dance, theatre, music, performance art, visual art, popular entertainment, media, sports, r ...
'', ''
Performance Research
''Performance Research'' is a specialist performance arts journal published bi-monthly (from 2012).
It is an independent, peer-reviewed journal published by Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd for ARC, a division of the Centre for Performan ...
'', ''New Theatre Quarterly'', ''Teatro e Storia'' and ''Teatrología''. Among his most recent publications, translated into several different languages, are ''The Paper Canoe'' (
Routledge
Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law, and ...
), ''Theatre: Solitude, Craft, Revolt'' (Black Mountain Press), ''Land of Ashes and Diamonds: My Apprenticeship in Poland'', 26 letters from Jerzy Grotowski to Barba (Black Mountain Press) and, in collaboration with Nicola Savarese, ''The Secret Art of the Performer'' and the revised and updated version of ''A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology'' (Centre for Performance Research/Routledge). In 2021 he has founded the open-access ''Journal of Theatre Anthropology''.
References
''Eugenio Barba'' Jane Turner, Routledge, 2004,
External links
Odin Teatret ArchivesJournal of Theatre Anthropology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barba, Eugenio
1936 births
People from Brindisi
Living people
Italian male writers
Italian theatre directors
Acting theorists
Theatre practitioners
Recipients of the Gold Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis
Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
Recipients of the Delmira Agustini Medal