Eugenio Barba is recognized as one of the most important theatre practitioners working today. Along with the company he founded over fifty years ago, the world-acclaimed Odin Teatret, he continues to produce extraordinary theatre performances that tour the world, and his International School of Theatre Anthropology has greatly developed research into the craft of the actor. Now revised and updated, this volume reveals the background to and work of a major influence on twentieth- and twenty-first century performance. Eugenio Barba is the first book to combine: an overview of Barba’s work and that of his company, Odin Teatret exploration of his writings and ideas on theatre anthropology, and his unique contribution to contemporary performance research in-depth analysis of the 2000 production of Ego Faust, performed at the International School of Theatre Anthropology a practical guide to training exercises developed by Barba and the actors in the company. As a first step towards critical understanding, and as an initial exploration before going on to further, primary research, Routledge Performance Practitioners offer unbeatable value for today’s student.

This volume includes actors, directors and designers and contains 300 entries, each of which includes biographical information on the individual, a complete list of roles and/or theatre productions, and a bibliography critical books and articles about the entrant.

This work examines three major strands of the work Eugenio Barba, a leading theatre artist and theorist, working across cultures.

The Odin Teatret was founded in 1964 in Norway and for 34 years has been based in Holstebro, Denmark, away from the capital and the centre for theatre. It also tours in other countries. What makes this theatre special in comparison to others, is that "it comprehends theatre as a specific social and spatial reality, often expressed through the metaphor of a monastery, ghetto or exile". The theatre laboratory has many other activities than the mere creation of theatre performances; it also conducts seminars, conferences and meetings with theatre people from around the world. It has published a series of books and magazines about theatre technique and theory and produced films and videos.

James Roose-Evans, one of Britain's most experienced and innovative directors, and founder of the Hampstead Theatre (which celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary in 1984), surveys the history of the avant-garde in the theatre. He traces its origins through such key figures as Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, Craig, Appia, Copeau, Piscator, Brecht, Grotowski and up to the most recent experiments of Peter Brook's "Mahabharata." This is a second, enlarged edition of a highly successful and widely-used book. As James Roose-Evans himself writes: 'I am convinced that if one is a practitioner of theatre it is an essential part of one's task to see and know what is going on in all of the arts. We have much to learn from one another as well as from the lessons of history.'