On Directing and Dramaturgy: Burning the House (review)

The legendary Eugenio Barba sets directing and dramaturgy on fire as he recounts his life and work as the director of Odin Teatret in Denmark. He writes his book in the same style that he works, with an imaginative zeal to disrupt the reader's preconceived notions of directing. On Directing and Dramaturgy captures Barba's journey, one that begins with Jerzy Grotowski's urge to strip theatre of its pretensions and leads to the development of his own notions of how to bare the soul of theatre.

Barba uses the structure of a symphony to organize his book and describe his process for discovering the roots of theatre. He devotes five chapters to his divisions of dramaturgy, with intermezzi between each. The four intermezzi allow Barba to insert moments of personal reflection as he pauses in his analysis of dramaturgy. From the narrow, intimate focus in the intermezzi, Barba elaborates on the journey of his directing genius and the establishment of his dramaturgy by incorporating poems, excerpts of letters, and texts to illustrate how literally everything inspired his work.

Barba introduces his concept of dramaturgy and directing in chapter 1. He describes the plurality of dramaturgies, which he uses as titles for the subsequent chapters. Barba discusses three levels of organization: organic dramaturgy, narrative dramaturgy, and evocative dramaturgy. These innovative descriptions of dramaturgy suggest a fresh process for directors. He includes the dramaturgy of the director, the actor, and the spectator, as he states: "[m]y dramaturgical work began with a particular way of looking which focused upon the layered nature of the performance" (9). These layers provide insight into an experimental theatre that creates thought, wonder, and contemplation on behalf of the spectator as an integral component of the performance. Following this chapter is his first intermezzo, which is a letter from his dear friend and theatre scholar Mirella Schino. He uses this to explain his concept of creating performances that "arouse Disorder in the mind and the senses of a particular spectator" (17). Throughout the book, he describes how he attempts to arrive at a technique for creating this Disorder.

In chapter 2, he defines organic dramaturgy as the elementary level of a performance, and he illustrates his method of using the dramaturgy of the actors to build a score. Through improvisation, movement, and vocal actions, he works with his actors to create "a theatre which dances" (33). Once created, Barba requires his actors to duplicate their improvisations exactly, because he uses these actions and characterizations in the performance. He also discusses the dramaturgy of space and defines his "space-river" model, which he uses to submerge his audience in an experience of theatre. His concept is to create curiosity without making the spectator feel insecure. Barba's explanation provides both directors and dramaturgs with thought-provoking approaches to engaging audiences. His second intermezzo is a compilation of his actors' descriptions of working with him on this technique. Barba has a concept of director as a master weaver who continuously uses threads, impressions, and memories to create a performance. This intermezzo shows how the ensemble worked in concert on performances.

Chapter 3, "Narrative Dramaturgy," is the "intertwining of events which orient the spectators about the meaning, or the various meanings, of the performance" (10). Barba uses the term "knots" to define the confusion that often resulted during the ensemble's rehearsals. He used these knots when working with texts, and further elaborates on "working with the text" instead of "working for the text" (123). Barba personifies the director as auteur, a notion not widely celebrated in the United States. His approach to directing is not threatening to the playwright, but instead fosters a more in-depth collaboration among writer, director, actor, and dramaturg. Continuing with Barba's technique, the third intermezzo contains notes from a director who participated in the International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) in 1980. The ISTA was Barba's attempt to infuse directors and...