Masoero, Elena
(2004)
The director's folly: Eugenio Barba and the creation of a performance.
MPhil(R) thesis, University of Glasgow.
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Abstract
This thesis considers the process of creating Salt, a recent production by Odin Teatret, based in part upon a novel by Antonio Tabucchi, directed by Eugenio Barba and featuring Roberta Carreri and Jan Ferslev. Odin Teatret is a laboratory-based theatre company founded and directed by Eugenio Barba. As a director, Barba uses an actor-centred approach, built upon training and discipline honed over decades. Devised works emerge from actor-created improvisations, which are based around a chosen theme. It is the director's intervention that creates the favourable atmosphere out of which the unpredictable moulds the unforeseeable direction of the creative process. Barba, however, does not dominate/impose the creative process. It evolves as the result of a continuous act of communication and negotiation between the participants, which also include the spectator. It is the encounter between the actors' improvisations and Barba's aesthetic vision of the performance that results in novel and unexpected paths in the development of the process. This thesis demonstrates how Barba re-weaves the separate threads or micro-texts of the developing performance text into the intricate and complex texture of Salt. 'The director's folly' and 'the moment of the hatchet' are always counter-balanced for an abiding respect and valuation of the process. Salt is a single production within an evolving theatre company, with its own positively nurtured connoisseurs and traditions. But the Italian source of the text and the shared Italian origin of Barba and Carreri make this a powerful articulation of national identity in a transnational setting.
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