THEATRE ANTHROPOLOGY
Eugenio Barba
Theatre Anthropology is the study of the performer's
pre-expressive scenic behaviour which constitutes the basis of
different genres, roles and personal or collective traditions.
In an organised performance situation the performer's physical
and mental presence is modelled according to principles which are
different from those applied in daily life. This extra-daily use of
the body-mind is what is called technique.
The performer's different techniques can be conscious and
codified or else unconscious but implicit in the use and repetition
of a scenic practice. Transcultural analysis shows that it is
possible to distinguish recurring principles in these techniques.
The recurring principles, when applied to certain physiological
factors - weight, balance, the position of the spinal column, the
direction of the eyes in space - produce physical, pre-expressive
tensions. These new tensions generate a different quality of
energy, they render the body theatrically "decided", "alive",
"believable" and manifest the performer's "presence", or scenic
bios, attracting the spectator's attention "before" any form of
message is transmitted. This "before" is of course logical and not
chronological.
The pre-expressive layer constitutes the elementary level of
organisation in theatre. The various levels of organisation are for
the spectator and in the performance, inseparable and
indistinguishable. They can only be separated by means of
abstraction, in a situation of analytical research or during the
technical work of composition done by the performer. The capacity
to focus on the pre-expressive level makes possible the expansion
of knowledge with immediate consequences both in the practical,
professional, as well as in the historical and critical fields of
work. Knowledge of the pre-expressive principles which govern the
scenic bios can make it possible for one to learn to learn.
Theatre Anthropology is not concerned with the application of
the paradigms of cultural anthropology to theatre and dance. It is
not the study of the performative phenomena in those cultures which
are traditionally studied by anthropologists, nor should Theatre
Anthropology be confused with the anthropology of performance.
The performer's work fuses, in a single profile, three different
aspects that relate to three distinct levels of organisation. The
first aspect is individual, the second is common to all those who
belong to the same performance genre and the third concerns all
performers from every era and culture.
These three aspects are:
1) The performer's personality, her/his sensitivity, artistic
intelligence, social persona: those characteristics which render
the individual performer unique.
2) The particularity of the scenic tradition and the
historical-cultural context through which the performer's unique
personality manifests itself.
3) The uses of the body-mind according to extra-daily techniques
in which transcultural recurring principles can be found. These
recurring principles are defined by Theatre Anthropology as the
field of pre-expressivity.
The first two aspects determine the transition from
pre-expressivity to performing. The third is that which does not
vary, underlying the various personal, stylistic and cultural
differences. It is the scenic bios, the "biological" level of
theatre, upon which different techniques and personal uses of the
performer's presence and dynamism are founded.
Performance study has tended to prioritise theories and utopian
ideas, neglecting the empirical approach. Theatre Anthropology
directs its attention to this empirical territory in order to trace
a path between the different techniques, aesthetics, genres and
specialisations that deal with stage practice. It does not seek to
fuse, accumulate or catalogue acting techniques. It seeks the
elementary: the technique of techniques. On the one hand this is
utopia. On the other, it is another way of saying learning to
learn.
The first two aspects determine the transition from
pre-expressivity to performance. The third is that which does not
vary, underlying the various personal, stylistic and cultural
differences. It is the scenic bios, the "biological" level of
theatre, upon which different techniques and personal uses of the
performer's presence and dynamism are founded.
Performance study has tended to prioritise theories and utopian
ideas, neglecting the empirical approach. Theatre Anthropology
directs its attention to this empirical territory in order to trace
a path between the different techniques, aesthetics, genres and
specialisations that deal with stage practice. It does not seek to
fuse, accumulate or catalogue acting techniques. It seeks the
elementary: the technique of techniques. On the one hand this is
utopia. On the other, it is another way of saying "learning to
learn".
