Eugenio Barba

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Eugenio Barba (2015)

Eugenio Barba (born October 29, 1936 in Brindisi ) is an Italian theater director living in Denmark and the author of numerous works dealing with theater anthropology. He is the founder and director of Odin Teatret and the International School of Theater Anthropology, both based in Holstebro .

Life

Although Barba was born in Brindisi, he grew up in Gallipoli , where his family came from. His father, a senior military man, suffered wounds in World War II from which he later died.

In order to avoid a possible military career of his own, he emigrated to Norway in 1954. He studied Norwegian literature and religious history at the University of Oslo . In 1960 he went to Warsaw to study directing at the Polish State Theater School, but a year later he decided to continue his studies at Jerzy Grotowski's Thirteen Rows Theater in Opole , where he stayed for three years as his assistant and one of his views "Poor theater" participated. Since then, Barba has been considered one of the closest adepts of Grotowski's theater concept.

Then Barba traveled to India, where he studied the Kathakali , which at that time did not receive any attention from a western perspective. After his return to Oslo he studied anthropology and Sanskrit and wanted to become a director, but since he saw no opportunities on institutionalized stages in Norway as a foreigner, he founded the Odin Teatret on October 1, 1964. Since then, he has been close friends with the Norwegian writer Jens Bjørneboe . In 1965 Barba's first book Grotowski was published. In search of a Lost Theater in Italy and Hungary.

Ornitofilene's first production , written by Jens Bjørneboe, has been shown in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Here they were invited by the then mayor of Holstebro to set up a theater laboratory. In return, they were offered an old farm and a small amount of financial support. The Odin Teatret has been based there since June 1966. About the name and the goals he said on the occasion of the Theater Festival 79 in Munich in 1979:

“The name of our theater is no coincidence. It seems natural to us that it should be named after the violence that has so deeply shaped our century: the god of war Odin , the great berserker. [...] Our theater neither wants to amuse nor propagate theses. It simply wants to ask questions that everyone has to find an answer to; the really committed art does not provide good answers, but is content with asking good questions. "

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Since inception, Eugenio Barba has directed and performed dozens of productions with the Odin Teatret and the Theatrum Mundi Ensemble, some of which took up to two years of production time. Oxyrhincus Evangeliet, millions and Brecht's Ashes 2 were also seen in Germany.

In 1979 Eugenio Barba founded the International School of Theater Anthropology (ISTA), a multicultural network for actors and students from around the world with a focus on theater anthropology. Its meetings take place periodically in response to inquiries from national and international cultural institutions and each deal with a topic that is dealt with through practical work, work demonstrations and comparative analysis. A limited number of actors, dancers, directors, choreographers, students and theater critics can register for this. Since its inception, its meetings have taken place in Bonn (1980), Volterra and Pontadera (1981), Blois and Malakoff in France (1985), Holstebro (1986), Salento (1987) and Bologna (1990) in Italy, Brecon and Cardiff in Great Britain (1992), Londrina in Brazil (1994), Umeå in Sweden (1995), Copenhagen (1996), Montemor-o-Novo and Lisbon in Portugal (1998), Bielefeld (2000), Sevilla (2004) and Warsaw (2005) instead of.

Barba is also the editor of numerous magazines such as The Drama Review.

Services

"With his theater work and his writings, Barba gave me decisive impulses for the development of independent theater in the sixties and seventies." His achievements consist in researching non-European, especially Far Eastern-Asian forms of theater and the intercultural exchange between these forms. He uses the path of the "third theater", which should be "a way of living the theater not only as art or technical and artistic rebellion, but also as existential and political revolt" and also "the recognition of a common affiliation, over and beyond the differences in language and culture. "

Awards

Eugenio Barba received honorary doctorates from the universities of Aarhus, Ayacucho, Bologna, Buenos Aires, Havana, Hong Kong, Plymouth, Tallinn and Warsaw and the Reconnaissance de Mérite scientifique from the University of Montréal. He is also the recipient of the Danish Academy Award, the Mexican Theater Critic Award, the Diego Fabbri Award, the International Pirandello Award and the Sonning Award from the University of Copenhagen and the Gloria Artis Medal for cultural merit . On June 2, 2008 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic of the level "Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" ("Commander").

Works

  • With Ferdinando Taviani: The Floating Islands. Reflections with Odin Teatret. Drama, 1979 (German: Beyond the floating islands. Reflections with the Odin Theater. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1985, ISBN 3-499-55415-1 )
  • "Theater anthropologist: on oriental and European acting (1980)" in: Manfred Brauneck : Theater in the 20th century. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1982, ISBN 3-499-16290-3 , pp. 443-451
  • with Iben Nagel Rasmussen: Remarks on the Silence of Scripture. Published by Christoph Falke and Walter Ybema, Verlag der Theaterassoziation, Schwerte 1983
  • with Nicola Savarese, International School of Theater Anthropology: A Dictionary of Theater Anthropology. The Secret Art of the Performer. Routledge, 1991, ISBN 0-415-05308-0 and ISBN 978-0-415-05308-2
  • with Richard Fowler: The Paper Canoe. A Guide to Theater Anthropology. Routledge, 1995, ISBN 0-415-10083-6 and ISBN 978-0-415-10083-0 (German: A canoe made of paper. Treatises on theater anthropology. Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-9804764-6-4 )
  • with Jerzy Grotowski: Land of Ashes and Diamonds. My Apprenticeship in Poland - Followed by 26 Letters from Jerzy Grotowski to Eugenio Barba. Black Mountain Press, 1999, ISBN 1-902867-01-7 and ISBN 978-1-902867-01-4 (German: Das Land von Asche und Diamant. My apprenticeship years in Poland. Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-9804764-8- 0 )

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d Manfred Brauneck: Theater in the 20th Century. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1982, pp. 485-488
  2. ↑ Eugenio Barba at culturebase.net, accessed on February 23, 2011, see web links
  3. ^ Eugenio Barba: Third Theater, 1976, quoted from Odin Teatret Archives, see web links
  4. ↑ Sonning prize recipients, University of Copenhagen , accessed on February 23, 2011 (English)
  5. ↑ The source for all awards is the page about Eugenio Barba on the Odin Teatret website, see web links
  6. ↑ Extract from the list of award winners (Italian), last accessed on September 18, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Barba, Eugenio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian-Danish author and theater director
DATE OF BIRTH October 29, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Brindisi