Eugenio Barba

Eugenio Barba was born in Brindisi in southern Italy and grew up in Gallipoli in the province of Lecce. His father was wounded in World War Two and died shortly after. Barba completed his high school education at Nunziatella military academy of Naples and originally intended to follow his father into the military. However, he abandoned this idea after completing his studies at the academy in 1954. He emigrated to Norway to find work as a welder and a sailor and went on to study at Oslo University. Barba had one brother, Ernesto Barba, a renowned hotelier who died in 1994.

Key Dates & Events

• 1954 - Barba graduates from the Nunziatella Military Academy.
• 1963 - Barba travels to India.
• 1964 - Barba creates the Odin Teatret.
• 1965 - Barba publishes In Search of a Lost Theatre.
• 1966 - Odin Teatret move to their permanent base in Holstebro.
• 1974 - Barba and the Odin Teatret devise the practice of “barter” as a reaction to encountering foreign cultures.
• 1991 - Barba publishes A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology: The Secret Art of the Performer.
• 1995 - Barba publishes The Paper Canoe: A Guide to Theatre Anthropology.
• 2020 - Barba establishes a new hybrid theatre-training laboratory in collaboration between Odin Teatret – Holstebro and Al Madina Theatre in Beirut.