On the Generosity of Theatre Historiography

Review of Eugenio Barba–Nicola Savarese: The Five Continents of Theatre. Facts and Legends about the Material Culture of the Actor

Abstract

With the systematic support of theatre scholar Savarese, theatre director Barba transformed some fifty years of professional experience in the visual and textual world of their volume into discourse, consciously and many times drawing our attention to the fact that they intended to do practical rather than theoretical-conceptual work. They do so in the knowledge that theatre studies regards Barba's oeuvre as a decisive reference point for theatre anthropology, inter- and transculturality, and as such it certainly contributes to the theoreticality of theatre studies. Since these incidental techniques are repeated not only in different historical periods but in all theatrical traditions, their comparative review shows that the material culture of the actor, with its varied processes, forms, and styles, stems from the way they respond to the same practical needs.