This the second English language edition of the classic text, "A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology" subtly juxtaposes the visual demonstrations of the performers craft, from a wealth of Oriental and Occidental sources. Whereas most Western research is concerned with naturalism and psychological realism in acting, the "Dictionary "focuses on the performer's arduous and eclectic craft.
More than just a dictionary, however, this is a handbook for theatre practitioners and a guide for students and scholars of transcultural performance. It is a result of ten years research conducted by Eugenio Barba and the International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) based in Denmark. The "Dictionary: "
*aims to expand our knowledge of the possibilities of the scenic body, and of the spectators response to the dynamics of performance
*includes practical sections on balance, opposition and montage, among other techniques
discusses issues including The Text and the Stage, The Dilated Body, and Energetic Language
*provides over 600 illustrated examples of the performers craft, in black and white and color.
This new edition contains three new chapters - E"xercises, Eurasian Theatre and Organic Theatre -" and 20 new pictures.

First Published in 1988. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor and Francis, an informa company.

The distances that separate East from West - the two extremes of the Eurasian continent - are enormous. Yet, since ancient times, the people of Europe and Asia have tried to overcome this remoteness through a network of trade routes known as the Silk Road. The great migrations, the continuous military conquests and the paths relentlessly opened up by merchants have been at the origin of ideological, technical and artistic exchanges, resulting in a fusion of cultures. Among the ceaseless travellers on the routes of the Silk Road, along with soldiers, merchants, messengers, and pilgrims, we find those who earned their living as jugglers, acrobats, musicians, actors and dancers. They were people who brought with them, rooted in their bodies, their own techniques and histories. Through these performers, the 'fabulous and mysterious Orient' has exerted an ongoing influence on the art of the theatre in Europe and America. In the same way, especially in modern times, actors and dancers from India, China, Japan, and other Asian countries have drawn inspiration from Western dramatic genres for a renewal of their ancient traditions. A long history of travelling actors moving between East and West has slowly taken shape, and lies at the foundation of our contemporary, professional performative arts. This updated and revised edition of Drama and Performance Between East and West (first published in 1992), traces this history from classical antiquity to the present. The book constitutes the first complete in-depth historiographic inquiry into the subject.

The Five Continents of Theatre undertakes the exploration of the material culture of the actor, which involves the actors' pragmatic relations and technical functionality, their behaviour, the norms and conventions that interact with those of the audience and the society in which actors and spectators equally take part. The material culture of the actor is organised around body-mind techniques (see A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology by the same authors) and auxiliary techniques whose variety concern: the diverse circumstances that generate theatre performances: festive or civil occasions, celebrations of power, popular feasts such as carnival, calendar recurrences such as New Year, spring and summer festivals; the financial and organisational aspects: costs, contracts, salaries, impresarios, tickets, subscriptions, tours; the information to be provided to the public: announcements, posters, advertising, parades; the spaces for the performance and those for the spectators: performing spaces in every possible sense of the term; sets, lighting, sound, makeup, costumes, props; the relations established between actor and spectator; the means of transport adopted by actors and even by spectators. Auxiliary techniques repeat themselves not only throughout different historical periods, but also across all theatrical traditions. Interacting dialectically in the stratification of practices, they respond to basic needs that are common to all traditions when a performance has to be created and staged. A comparative overview of auxiliary techniques shows that the material culture of the actor, with its diverse processes, forms and styles, stems from the way in which actors respond to those same practical needs. The authors' research for this aspect of theatre anthropology was based on examination of practices, texts and of 1400 images, chosen as exemplars.