Journal of Theatre Anthropology

News

Journal of Theatre Anthropology — 2022-10-24

Learning to see

Julia Varley — 2022-10-30

Odin Teatret revisité

Liliana Alexandrescu — 2022-10-24

This is an excerpt of the article by Liliana Alexandrescu that was published with the same title in the Romanian journal Dramatica 1/2014, “Eugenio Barba. Celebrating 50 years with Odin Teatret.” Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai, pp. 157-182. After two meetings with Eugenio Barba and Odin Teatret’s actors, in 1976 and in 1981, the author visited Odin Teatret’s home and was fascinated by Barba’s and his actors’ working model. In 1985, Alexandrescu attended the ISTA symposium held in Malakoff, France, 20th-21st April 1985. The paper presents the symposium, enriched by original notes taken by the author.

ISTA 4

Eugenio Barba — 2022-10-30

Text written by Eugenio Bara on the occasion of ISTA 4 to present the theme of the session.

Feminism and Misunderstandings

Simone Dragone — 2022-10-30

The 4th ISTA session, held in Holstebro in 1986, provoked controversies and discussions. In particular, the American scholar Erika Munk and the American professor Phillip Zarrilli argued against Eugenio Barba. The first accused the Italian director of not taking into consideration socio-cultural aspects concerning the representation of women on stage, the second found a lack of reflexivity in Barba’s research. Analysing writings and essays published after the session, this article presents the confrontation between the scholars and Barba, underlining how such discussions opened up reflections on subjects hitherto neglected.

The Visible and the Invisible in Theatre

Eugenio Barba — 2022-10-24

This writing is a letter published in The Drama Review 32, 3, 1988 p. 7-14, through which Eugenio Barba answers to the article “For Whom Is the ‘Invisible’ Not Visible?”, written by Phillip Zarrilli about the 4th ISTA International Session “The Female Role as Represented on the Stage in Various Cultures”, published in The Drama Review 32,1, 1988 p. 95-106.

Between the Face and the Mask

Eugenio Barba — 2022-10-24

Through this article, first published on the 25th of November 1986 in the American weekly newspaper The Village Voice, Eugenio Barba replied to “Roles and Poles Apart”, Erika Munk’s day-by-day report of the ISTA’s conference The Female Role as Represented on the Stage in Various Cultures, published in the same newspaper two weeks before, on the 11th of November 1986. In her article, the American author accused ISTA director and scientific staff of being sexists and of having neglected the sociological question of gender equality. In his answer, Barba clarified the fundamental principles examined during the conference and the aims of ISTA.

Rapport sur la 4éme session de l’ISTA

Jean-Marie Pradier — 2022-10-24

After the end of the 4th edition of ISTA, held in Holstebro in 1986 between September 7th to 21st, Jean-Marie Pradier, member of the scientific staff since the first ISTA edition, reports on the activities which took place in the session. The report, accessible at Odin Teatret Archives, presents in depth the theme of the session, the characteristics of the research and the organisation of the congress.

The Spectator’s Shadow

Vincenzo Blasi — 2022-10-24

The author summarises the different stages of his continuous research on the 5th session of ISTA in Salento (1987) that he began in 1997. The text throws light on the ISTA participants’ group dynamic during the ‘closed’ part of the session, the variety of ‘dialogue- performances’ (barters) with the local population during the ‘open’ part, and quotes several observations by cultural anthropologist Piero Giacchè during his field work which lasted several months.

Identidad o avasallamiento

Patricia Cardona — 2022-10-24

The text (“Identity or subjugation”) is an excerpt from the chapter Ame?rica Latina originally published in Spanish in Patricia Cardona’s book Diario de una danza por la antropologi?a teatral en Ame?rica Latina (Mexico City, Quinta del Agua Ediciones, 2012, p. 66-71). It describes the transformative experience of the author during the ISTA session in Salento in 1987 as well as Odin Teatret’s impact on the theatre identity of Latin American independent groups.

Un coup de pied aux livres

Franco Ruffini — 2022-10-24

This text by the Italian scholar Franco Ruffini (“A kick to the books. Return from ISTA”), was originally published in the book Les Voyages ou l’ailleurs du théâtre. Hommage à Georges Banu, edited by Catherine Naugrette (Alternatives Théâtrales, Bruxelles, 2013, p. 197-207). Ruffini reflects on his personal experiences in the framework of ISTA - International School of Theatre Anthropology, of which he was one of the founders participating as a member of the scientific staff. After the session of the ISTA in Salento in 1987, Ruffini wrote an essay of about sixty pages (“The Actor and Drama. Theoretical Essay of Theatre Anthropology”) in which he developed the methodological and ethical premises experienced in the practical sessions of ISTA for his scholarly pedagogical activity.

Report on the 5th Session of ISTA

Nicola Savarese — 2022-10-24

The 5th public session of the International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) was held in Otranto – a region of Salento, Italy – from September 1st to September 14th, 1987. This session was the conclusion of the research which began with the foundation of ISTA in 1979 and constitutes the point of departure for further work. Faithful to its principles, ISTA organised the 1987 session in a way that allowed for the integration of past experience with new methodology and practice. This integration was realised through a combination of specialised work sessions and encounters with different peoples of the region. In this way, ISTA was able to enter into the living cultural weave of its host, Salento. Preparatory work, as well as scientific and artistic projects, helped ISTA meet the local culture in a manner which was neither abrupt nor articifial.

The Objectivity of Seeing

Nicola Savarese — 2022-10-25

Nicola Savarese, Eugenio Barba’s collaborator for many years, describes the part- nership that left the most tangible sign in the elaboration of two books: A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology (1982) and The Five Continents of Theatre. Facts and Legends of the Actor’s Material Culture (2018). In narrating the complex and long gestation of the two books, Savarese points out how the need to have richly illustrated books gradually emerged: a wide choice of images build a convincing visual discourse alongside the words. The effective examples given here underline how the power of images allow readers of theatre history books to see the objective aspect of the subjects dealt with

Opening a Mental Horizon

Franco Ruffini — 2022-10-24

Interviewed by Claudio Coloberti in 2007, the Italian scholar Franco Ruffini narrates his collaboration with Barba and his participation in the first sessions of ISTA (Bonn 1980, Volterra 1981, Salento 1987). In a fertile context of scientific and artistic inves- tigation, Ruffini developed his interests in theatre through a variety of disciplines, in contact with different interlocutors, both scholars and practitioners. ISTA sessions made possible a broader investigation on acting techniques and were the context to explore a living learning process, exercising attention, observation and dialectical reflection.

Bananes et mystère

Jean-Marie Pradier — 2022-10-24

Julia Varley interviews Jean-Marie Pradier about the circumstances of his meeting with Eugenio Barba in 1975 in Holstebro. At the time he was based in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he had founded an experimental theatre group; Pradier was immediately attracted by the artistic, theoretical and ethical orientation of Barba’s research. Pradier invited Barba to speak in September 1979 at the International Colloquium in Karpacz, Poland, on the biological aspects of theatre, in which also Henri Laborit (Albert Lasker Prize for Medicine) and Jerzy Grotowski took part. In turn, Barba invited Pradier to join the founding team of ISTA - International School of Theatre Anthropology, and to participate in its first session in Bonn in 1980. The interview looks back at the intense exchange of these circumstances, and their influence on the creation of ethnoscenology (1995).

Casting the Net

Ferdinando Taviani — 2022-10-22

Interviewed by Claudio Coloberti in 2007 as part of a series dedicated to the “Voices of ISTA”, Nando Taviani reconstructs his relationship with Eugenio Barba since the early 1970s. In this text, here published for the first time in an English translation, Taviani follows his collaboration with Odin Teatret from the barter in Carpignano in 1974 to the first session of ISTA in Bonn in 1980, towards the formulation of theatre anthropology in a hybrid context of practitioners and scholars.

Aprender a mirar a través del cuerpo y la voz

Cecilia Hopkins — 2022-10-24

This article (“Learning to see through the body and voice”) presents Cecilia Hopkin’s experience on the teachings of theatre anthropology in her activities: journalism, acting and teaching. The wide field that constitutes the terrain of the pre-expressive taught her to observe the body of the performers in search of the poetic aspects of the performance. Cecilia Hopkins learned to watch the performances she had to review as a journalist from the parameters of pre-expressiveness. In training she found different ways of developing her acting, directing and teaching, always taking into account the various levels of the drama- turgy that come together in the body and in the voice.

The Practice of Seeing

Nicola Savarese — 2022-10-22

Film director Claudio Coloberti interviewed theatre history scholar Nicola Savarese on his ‘reporter’ experience when he documented the first session of ISTA in Bonn in October 1980 with photographs, recordings of the dialogues and cultural exchanges between the different protagonists. The many difficulties confronted by Savarese due to the absolute novelty of the situation that involved students and teachers from all over the world, and particularly from Asia, made him aware that ISTA was a school that taught to see technical and psycho-physical analogies in the actor’s work in different theatre cultures by a continuous interweaving of practice and theory. After following the ISTA in Volterra in 1981, the ‘reporter’s work’ gave way to the elaboration with Eugenio Barba of the successful book A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology.

Through a Scientific Lens

Leonardo Mancini — 2022-10-24

This article is based on the broad network of interests established by Eugenio Barba in the first decade of ISTA with the world of science: a fertile, lively relationship with figures inside and outside the world of theatre. With the contribution of archival documents preserved in the Odin Teatret Archives, the article focuses on certain artistic and intellectual episodes that exemplify the relational dialectics of interpenetration, exercised in two opposing tensions (one of approach outwards, the other of attraction inwards), implemented by Barba in a vast knowledge-seeking project, unprecedented in the history of the theatre. It was also based on these premises that Barba promoted the concept of theatre anthropology as a plural, interdisciplinary and intercultural living discipline: a discipline founded on the study of human beings and the history of cultures, combining a purely humanistic approach with new research from the so-called hard sciences. The impact and wide range of interaction of theatre anthropology as a new subject in the field of knowledge subsequently gave rise, over following decades, to ample literature hosting a lively and constructive debate.

The Pen and the Katana

Jacques Arpin — 2022-10-24

This article presents eight drawing montages which illustrate eight moments where Eugenio Barba’s theatre anthropology met cultural psychiatry in Jacques Arpin’s personal and professional life. The principles of theatre anthropology are developed into therapeutic processes in collaboration with performing artists from other cultures.

The Times of ISTA

Julia Varley — 2022-10-24

This article recalls the importance of the organisers and schedules for the development of theatre anthropology during the ISTA sessions, and presents the different generations of teachers.

Stories in Between Anthropology and Theatre

Mette Bovin — 2022-10-24

In this article Mette Bovin narrates her experiences and anthropological fieldwork among different African peoples since the 1960s. Her research brought her to meet the Mumuye people in Nigeria, and the Wodaabe people in Niger. In 1982 Mette Bovin invited Roberta Carreri to West Africa where they started the project on Bartering performances in Niger and Burkina Faso. The author also describes her personal experience as a participant during nine ISTA sessions and the impact of those encounters on her life.

Retejiendo la raíz rota

Miguel Rubio Zapata — 2022-10-24

In this article Miguel Rubio Zapata presents his personal point of view on theatre anthropology as a field of observation through which to relate to other cultures and theatre traditions from different parts of the world. The article also presents a detailed report of the traditional Fiesta de la Virgen del Carmen (Paucartambo, Peru?) and its different dances, masks and characters.

Embodying Essence through Absence

Bianca Mastrominico — 2022-10-24

In this article Bianca Mastrominico focuses on how to embody liveness through digital platforms within the framework of theatre anthropology, looking at how remote performers and spectators interact through screen technology to discern principles and techniques that can guide online training, and creating work for a digital spectator. Her conclusions envisage a soft technology which fosters participatory practice and includes the non-human in creative processes.

Poetics, Borderlessness, Frameworks

Luciana Martuchelli — 2022-10-24

In this article Luciana Martuchelli presents her theatre poetics in dialogue with historical figures and film acting techniques, with examples of the principles of theatre anthropology she has used in her work as acting coach for films.

The Motherland of Arlecchino

Claudia Contin Arlecchino — 2022-10-24

In this article the Italian performer Claudia Contin Arlecchino reflects on her personal and artistic experience with the masque of Arlecchino (Harlequin) acquired in 35 years of practice, teaching and research. Working on different “archetypes” of Commedia dell’Arte (Zanni, Pantalone, Balanzone, Arlecchino, Brighella, Lovers, Captains, Servants, Courtesans, Pulcinella), and interrogating fundamental aspects of her own techniques and training, the author offers an insight into several components of the performer’s craft, such as the body, gymnastics, acrobatics, dance, impulses, rhythm, and exercises. What is at stake is the reconstruction of an extra-daily behaviour, which allows to give new life to an acting technique based on tradition.

Odin Actors Were My Rivals!

Akira Matsui — 2022-10-24

The Japanese noh actor Akira Matsui is interviewed by Jonah Salz in August 2021 about his encounters with Eugenio Barba reflecting on his decade-long collaboration with ISTA and Odin Teatret in Spain, Bali, Italy and Denmark. Akira Matsui reflects on the intercultural experience of performing Ur-Hamlet as part of the Theatrum Mundi Ensemble directed by Eugenio Barba, having to interact on stage with performers of other traditions.

Learning to Teach

Francesca Romana Rietti — 2022-10-24

The article aims to evoke the atmosphere and work environment of the theatre experiences the author encountered as an observer participant of the 16th session of ISTA/ NG (International School of Theatre Anthropology/New Generation). Held in Favignana, Sicily, from 1 to 22 October 2021, the session was renamed ISTA/NG, as part of a knowledge sharing project promoted by the Fondazione BarbaVarley established in December 2020. Beside the narration of the events, the article includes questions concerning the pursuit of a language that tries not to betray the complexity of a practical adventure that involves both cognitive and sensorial spheres. Particular attention is given to the presence at ISTA/NG of Kapila Venu, an Indian teacher who found herself working with Eugenio Barba for the first time, having to learn how to teach all over again. Kapila Venu becomes the focus to analyse the material and immaterial dimension of the pedagogical tradition founded by theatre anthropology that concentrates on the first day of work. According to Eugenio Barba, it is in that first moment of learning that the physical and ethical foundation is put for the future theatre profession.

Photographic Report

Francesco Galli — 2022-10-24

This photographic report presents a series of pictures taken by Francesco Galli during the 16th ISTA in Favignana in October 2021.

From Sight to Vision

Eugenio Barba — 2022-10-22