Theatre anthropology and performer training
Life, work and teaching
Eugenio Barba developed his actor-training research through Odin Teatret and the International School of Theatre Anthropology, known as ISTA. The school brings performers and scholars from different theatrical traditions into a travelling field of study. Its subject is the human being in an organized performance situation.
Theatre anthropology investigates the performer's use of the body and the technical principles that make stage behaviour effective. ISTA's encounters place practical demonstrations and transmission of craft beside research across traditions. The differences between those traditions remain part of the inquiry.
The actor's study
Barba's books with Nicola Savarese include A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology: The Secret Art of the Performer and The Five Continents of Theatre. The latter examines the actor's material culture, including techniques, working conditions, conventions, and relationships with spectators.
For your work, this research widens the question of training. The actor's instrument develops through embodied practice within a culture, a company, and a way of making theatre. Study particular practices carefully, with their teachers and contexts intact.
