Physical and Vocal Training - Odin Teatret (1972)

The renown of the Odin Teatret stems not only from its performances, which embody a veritable science of stage language, but also from its meetings, seminars and conferences, along with the accompanying publications and films. These activities, which are linked with the International School of Theatre Anthropology, are designed to encourage reflection on the common features of the acting techniques of different cultures.

Before founding the Odin Teatret in 1964, Eugenio Barba left his native Italy at the age of 17, hitchhiking north. He remained in Oslo, where he completed a degree in French, Norwegian literature, and History of Religion. A bursary from UNESCO allowed him to leave for Poland, where he worked for three years as an assistant to Jerzy Grotowski at the Teatr 13 Rzedow in Opole. Back in Norway, where as a foreigner he was not welcome as a theatre director, Barba started his own theatre, recruiting young people who had not passed their admission exams to the Oslo State Theatre School. The theatre’s first production, Ornitofilene (1966), led to an invitation from the small town of Holstebro to create a theatre laboratory. That laboratory, Odin Teatret, has been Eugenio Barba’s base ever since.

After the Nordic inspiration of Barba’s early productions—Kasparina (1967) and Ferai (1968)—the life of Dostoyevsky served as inspiration for Min Fars Hus (My Father’s House, 1973), a work that led to international recognition for the company and its director.

TRAINING AT ODIN TEATRET:
This chapter reconstructs Eugenio Barba's theoretical reflections on apprenticeship. Beginning with the idea of a laboratory as a space for technical research, it ends with ISTA (International School of Theatre Anthropology) and with the idea of the theatre as an unending school, an environment where, through technical principles, one tries to transmit ethical principles.
Training is the transcription of Eugenio Barba's commentary for two films on Odin Teatret, directed by Torgeir Wethal for Italian TV in November 1972.

PHYSICAL TRAINING:
Produced by Odin Teatret Film, 1972. 50 min. Dir. Torgeir Wethal. In Italian with English subtitles.
Odin Teatret’s physical training, with a commentary by Eugenio Barba, showing its evolution from collectively learned skills to the actor’s personalisation of the exercises.

VOCAL TRAINING:
Produced by Odin Teatret Film, 1972. 40 min. Dir. Torgeir Wethal. In Italian with English subtitles.
The film focuses on Odin Teatret’s use of the text as a vocal action. It includes work with various body resonators, exercises which engage the voice as an extension of the body, and vocal improvisations based on a stream of personal associations.