Eugenio Barba and Extra-Daily Scenic Behaviour: Influences of Stanislavski, Meyerhold and Grotowski

Abstract

Three directors who influenced 20th century theatre, Konstantin Stanislavski, Vsevolod Meyerhold and Jerzy Grotowski, and they each conducted comprehensive studies on the position of acting through theatrical aesthetic. In order to realize this theatrical aesthetic, these directors emphasized the need for actors to practice systematic exercises and develop particular scenic behaviour, which is different from daily behaviour. Their work has paved the way for various theoretical studies on acting. The actor who is going to act within a reality that fictionalized on stage, no matter the strength of its relationship with daily reality, has to leave the automatized daily behaviour behind and develop a technique that is built upon the necessities of the stage context. In this article, the basis of the extra-daily scenic behaviour of actors in the Odin Theatre is dealt with in the light of approaches of directors who strongly affected the theatre approach that developed through the 20th century: namely Stanislavski, Meyerhold and Grotowski.