Journal of Theatre Anthropology

Beyond the words

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Foreword. Anthropology's Many Facets

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Ethology and Theater

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In this writing Schechner examines the convergences between human and animal behaviors. Using an ethological point of view, i.e. applying the evolutionary theory to the analysis of behavior and culture, the American scholar identifies common dynamics which at several levels govern both animal and human performances. The full version of this article was originally published in Essays on Performance Theory, 1970-1976 (Drama Book, New York 1977, pp. 157-201).

Restoration of Behavior

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Taking as reference the ethno-anthropological studies given by Erving Goffman and Victor Turner, Schechner analyzes the methods and dynamics of the transition from daily behavior to restored behavior and does so by examining both different ritual traditions and the workshop-rehearsals processes that are triggered in the field of dance and theater. This article, in its full version, appeared for the first time in 1981 in the journal Studies in Visual Communication 7 (3), pp. 2-45.

The Future of Ritual

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In an attempt to define what "ritual" is, Schechner denotes in ritual actions, both human and animal, a similarity with those that emerge in the artistic performance field. The American scholar identifies elements such as violence and sexuality in rituals and characterizes the ritual itself as the dynamic capable of dealing with social crises that overturn culturally recognized systems and hierarchies. Furthermore, following Turner – and reviewing ethological and neurological points of view – Schechner recognizes ritual as having a creative property, which not only contains traditional cultural behaviors but is capable of generating new images, ideas and practices. This article has been published in several versions, undergoing several transformations: it appeared firstly as the inaugural essay of the Journal of Ritual Studies 1 (1), 1987, pp. 5-34; other fragments of it appear in Victor Turner's Last Adventure, an essay published both in Anthropologica 27 (1-2), 1985, pp. 190-206 and as introduction for Turner's book The Anthropology of Performance (1986). Another full version of this writing is published in the Schechner's volume which takes up the title of the article itself: The Future of Ritual: Writings on Culture and Performance (Routledge, London and New York 1993, pp. 228-265).

Points of Contact

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A version of this essay appeared shortly after Victor Turner's death in Schechner's volume Between Theatre and Anthropology, with the title Points of Contact Between Anthropological and Theatrical Thought (Routledge, London and New York 1985, pp. 3-33). In this new version Schechner attempts to broaden Turner's ideas on liminality and does so by adding three more points of contact to the original list of six, a circumstance which allows him to analyze the performative qualities of the Paleolithic caveman, to reinterpret the ancient theory of Sanskrit performance in a contemporary key, to analyze the techniques through which Grotowski stimulates and brings alive the body-memory. In conclusion, referring to his notes detailing the seminar he co-led at the New York University in 1978 (with Turner, Erving Goffman, and Alexander Alland), Schechner shares memories of his collaboration with the Turners. The full version of this essay has been published in Experiential and Performative Anthropology in the Classroom, edited by Pamela R. Frese and Susan Brownell (Routledge, London and New York 2020, pp. 21-37).

Photographing ISTA

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ISTA 7, Brecon, Cardiff 1992

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ISTA 6, Bologna, 1990 Performance Techniques and Historiography

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ISTA 6, Bologna 1990, Report

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A Candle Lit

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This article is a chronicle on ISTA Bologna 1990 touching on different aspects of the session. It was first published in 1992 in English in Women and Theatre – Occasional Papers (Warwick University); in Spanish in Máscara, a. II, n. 9-10; and in Italian in Teatro Eurasiano, n. 2. In 1994 and 1996 the article was included in the anthologies about ISTA, The Tradition of ISTA (FILO-ISTA, Londrina 1994), and in The Performers Village (Drama, Copenhagen).

Floating in the Voice Universe

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Experiences and demands at the ISTA in Bologna 1990 concerning practical vocal activities, interpretations of compositions and improvisations as well as systematic and theoretical reflections on phonation and vocal styles resulted in a complex catalogue of vocal techniques and expressions. Scholars can use it to analyse performances. Speakers, actors, singers and vocal artists may use it as a manual for exercises and inspiration of sound colours.

Underscores & Subtexts

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This dossier style essay offers a candid account of the proceedings (certainties and perplexities) and a detailed description of the genesis of the 7th session of ISTA held in Brecon and Cardiff in Wales, UK, 4 -11 April 1992: its modus operandi, form and function (including statements on underscore and scenarios for improvisations), extracts and summa- ries from the conference, and an honest appraisal of the failure to realise what was envisaged as an ambitious, longer-term, Eurasian Theatre Project. In the chronicles of ISTA an account of the 7th session has not been fully recorded, even though the ground-breaking research on sub-score and underscore has subsequently underpinned perspectives and programmes. The 7th session of ISTA was problematic on several levels especially during the practical sessions in Brecon when the predominantly British theatre directors began to question ISTA's approach and methodology, and friction arose between the 'Anglo-Saxon' artists-scholars and the Italian theatrologists.

Barba, the Third Theatre and the Discovery of Theatre Anthropology

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This is the text of a lecture which was given by Marco De Marinis at the 3rd International Conference on Theatre Anthropology, "Odin Teatret and Theatre Anthropology in Greece", 17 and 18 March 2023. The conference was organised by: Theatre Laboratory of Drama and Speech Department of Theatre Studies; Co-organisers: Centre of Theatre Anthropology, Heraklion-Crete, Fondazione Barba Varley, University of Patras, Science and Technology Museum. De Marinis's speech highlights parallels and complementarities between the notion of Third Theatre, Theatre Anthropology and the genesis of ISTA, establishing that Barba's writings relating to Third Theatre address the issues of "why" and "for whom" theatre is done, while those relating to theatre anthropology question the "how", and therefore the techniques. Furthermore, the Italian scholar defines theatre anthropology as a discovery deriving from the work carried out by directors-pedagogues during the 20th century and from the work of actors who, at a pre-expressive level, do not learn to interpret or act but build their stage presence. Finally, after having defined the extra-daily techniques as those that the actor applies to put in practice the pre-expressive principles, De Marinis outlines three lessons that he learned by participating over twenty years in several ISTA sessions.

Tribu por afinidad

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This is a talk given by Aline Menassé, one of the founders of Teatro Laboratorio La Rueca, at the meeting of the Secret People of Odin Teatret on occasion of the celebration of Odin Teatret's 60th anniversary organised by Jaime Soriano - LARTES. The reflection on Third Theatre and its resonances in Mexico, with Eugenio Barba and special guests, took place at the UNAM, Mexico City, 7 February 2024.

Once Upon a Time There Was Theatre and Once Upon a Time There Was Anthropology

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This is a lecture by Piergiorgio Giacchè at the 3rd International Conference on Theatre Anthropology, "Odin Teatret and Theatre Anthropology in Greece", 17 and 18 March 2023. The conference was organised by: Theatre Laboratory of Drama and Speech Department of Theatre Studies; Co-organisers: Centre of Theatre Anthropology, Heraklion-Crete, Fondazione Barba Varley, University of Patras, Science and Technology Museum. In his speech, Giacchè traces a history of the relationship between theatre and anthropology, calling into question, in addition to those of Barba, the theoretical contributions of important scholars such as Goffman, Turner and Schechner.

Anthropological Theatre: an Introduction

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Introduction to the dossier "Anthropological Theatre"

Anthropological Theatre

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This text was written by Eugenio Barba on April 12th, 1987, in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, during the Encuentro Internacional de Teatro Antropológico (International Meeting of Anthropological Theatre) organised by Teatro Alianza with theatre groups from Latin America and Europe. Here Barba identifies the differences between theatre anthropology and anthropological theatre. Barba's text first appeared in English within an article by Ian Watson, Third Theatre in Latin America in The Drama Review: TDR, Winter 1987, 31 (4): 18-24.

Encuentro Internacional de Teatro Antropológico

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The International Meeting of Anthropological Theatre took place in Bahía Blanca, Argentina 6-12 April 1987. This text was published in Memoria del teatro combatiente: Teatro Alianza, Teatro para el Hombre, Teatro Laboratorio. Bahía Blanca 1969-1989 by Coral Aguirre, 1st Edition Bahía Blanca: Editorial de la Universidad Nacional del Sur. EdiUNS 2015, pp. 213-219. The book was dedicated to the memory of Dardo Aguirre, Néstor Castelnuovo, Mónica Morán, Juan Carlos Torresi, Graciela Petersen, Alfredo Bellomi, Ernesto Malisia, Olga Vallasciani, José Crespo, Roberto Martínez, Victor de Rosa, Horacio Rodríguez, Jorge Chiaradía, Eugenio Campos, Álvaro Andrenacci, Fortunato Jorge.

Grotowski, Barba and the Actor's Identity

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This lecture on the identity of the actor was held on 27 September 2021 in Meetings on Third Theatre and Theatre Anthropology organised in Brazil by Ricardo Gomes (Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto), Gilberto Icle (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul) and Fernando Mencarelli (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais).

Gnostic Anointed as College Chair: Grotowski's Theatrical Anthropology at the Collège de France

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This article reconstructs Jerzy Grotowski's theatrical anthropology based on a series of nine lectures, La "lignée organique" au théâtre et dans le rituel, that he gave at the Collège de France in Paris between 1997 and 1998. In these lectures, Grotowski reported on the dis- coveries he had made on his creative journey along the border of theatre and ritual. At the core of Grotowski's research, which can be described as "the science of doing", was the intention of inducing in the doer a flow of energy. As in alchemy, the inner process followed by the doer in the state of organicity is inextricably linked with his or her body. In this state, the doer is an ánthropos, a total being. This image lies at the centre of Grotowski's theatrical anthropology, an anthropology whose perspective is far removed from that of social or cultural anthropology; it is in fact the perspective of gnosis.

Jerzy Grotowski's 1997-1998

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The original text by Virginie Magnat has been edited by Leszek Kolankiewicz into this condensed version specifically for this publication. Reported here are nine conferences that Jerzy Grotowski gave at the Collège de France in Paris on themes of organic art and artificial methods, physical actions, impulses and energy, inner search and trance.

A Spark Called JTA

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Ombre Claire

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Illustrated by many photographs, this article aims to identify the stage presence principles used by Claire Heggen in the creation of her solo performance Ombre Claire with particular attention given to the relationship between the performer and the puppet she gives life to. As a pupil of Etienne Decroux, Claire Heggen remembers and transforms the terminology of Corporeal Mime maintaining its rigorous technical references within a poetical context.

The place of the possible

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The essay was published in Italian in Tecniche della rappresentazione e storiografia (1992), which collected material from the 6th session of ISTA held in Bologna in 1990. This text by Cruciani in the year of his death (1992) can be considered a summa of his continuous questioning on the not ephemeral nature of theatre and on the system of symmetries that he established existed between theatre practices and historiographic research. The author reflects how theatre is a field of investigation and argues why, from his point of view, theatre studies should be in a dialectical relationship with social, pedagogical, artistic, anthropological and historical studies. He identifies one of the values of theatre in its being a long-lasting category owing "its continuity and persistence in history because it does not produce works, but rather ways of operating".

Field or Humus?

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The creation in Lecce (Italy) in October 2023 of the LAFLIS, Living Archive Floating Islands, on the initiative of the Fondazione Barba Varley and the Regione Puglia is discussed in relation to the sessions of the International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA), founded and directed by Eugenio Barba in 1980, and their role as fertile ground for the ethnoscenology manifesto (1995). Dedicated to Barba's work, Odin Teatret and Third Theatre, LAFLIS is a dynamic, original and stimulating installation artwork dedicated to memory, transmission and creation for researchers and artists alike. As a corollary, the lesson that emerges encourages us to reconsider the field diaries of ethnologists and anthropologists, which often give rise to infertile and revealing misunderstandings, as was the case for Bronis?aw Malinowski.

In the Kitchen. Franca Rame and Her Theatre Technique

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Franca Rame belonged to a family with a theatre tradition going back to the 17th century. Franca Rame's words are edited in this article to tell her story and give space to her technical advice, besides presenting the original text of The Rape with its English translation.