Fondazione Barba Varley - ETS

International Festival of Theatre in the Sahara
2026-04-29 08:00 - 2026-05-03 17:00 (Europe/Rome) | Festival Teatro Sahara, 2 rue abdallah ben ezzoubeir, Kebili, 4214, Tunisia
International Festival of Theatre in the Sahara – El Golaa, Kébili Governorate, TunisiaWith the collaboration of: (Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Tunisia)
Wednesday, 29 April 2026: 21,30
Official Opening Ceremony with: Eugenio Barba, Julia Varley, Dr. Jabbar Joudi Al-Aboudi.
Saturday, 2 May 2026 09:00 – 13:00Workshop by Eugenio Barba and Julia Varley (Sahara Cultural Space – Istiftemi)
5 May 2026 – 09:00/12:00
Masterclass with Eugenio Barba, Julia Varley and Jean-Marie Pradier at the Tunis Opera Theatre within the framework of a partnership.

Inside the Skeleton of the Whale
2026-05-20 18:00 - 20:00 | Webinar
Inside the Skeleton of the Whale
Eugenio Barba and Julia Varley dialogue with partecipants who have seen the films of the performance and sent questions
Webinar in Spanish with simultaneous translation into English and Italian
Free participation; registration is required at the following link: https://bit.ly/4nl6zfV
Films of the performance are available HERE
Odin Teatret’s Inside the Skeleton of the Whale, directed by Eugenio Barba, premiered in 1997 and was last performed in 2022, the year Odin Teatret left Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium.
The performance has involved several generations of actors. In an early version, fifty spectators sit at a table, eat bread and olives, and drink wine. Another version, without tables, could accommodate up to two hundred spectators.
Subtitled “Before the Law” from a short story by Franz Kafka, the “skeleton” of the title refers to a essentiality that focusses on the dramaturgical backbone of a performance, which is to say the energy of the actors and of their physical and vocal actions.
Based on the structure of a previous Odin Teatret production, Kaosmos, but with texts from another production, The Gospel According to Oxyrhincus, Inside the Skeleton of the Whale reveals the complexity of information inherent in scores repeated for years, in a different context, without props, scenery, or costumes.

Meeting with Eugenio Barba
2026-05-29 16:00 - 2026-05-31 12:00
Meeting with Eugenio Barba
Location: Via della Valle 3 05022 Amelia
29 May, h. 16,00-19,30 “Theatre Outside the Theater.” Meeting with Eugenio Barba. Screening of the film “Zona Limite” by Stefano di Buduo. Organized by the “Beyond the Visible” Association. “A Mask a Day,” curated by Leonardo Gasparri.
30 May: h. 10,30 -13,00 “Lesson on Theatre Anthropology” A meeting with Eugenio Barba Screening of the film “Ways of Transmitting Embodied Knowledge.” Presented by the “Beyond the Visible” Association”. “A Mask a Day,” curated by Leonardo Gasparri.
h. 21,00, Teatro Sociale of Amelia “Ave Maria” performance of Julia Varley. Directed by Eugenio Barba
31 May h. 10,00-12,00, Teatro Sociale of Amelia “The Wedding”, collective performance.
Organized by: Atelier Nazionale del Centro Studi Nazionale U.I.L.T. in collaboration with Teatro Sociale di Amelia , U.I.L.T. Regione Umbria

Theatrum Mundi
2026-06-23 18:00 - 20:00 | Webinar
Theatrum Mundi: Copertino (1987), Bologna (1990), Londrina (1994), Copenhagen (1996)
Dialogo di Eugenio Barba e Julia Varley con partecipanti che hanno visto i film dello spettacolo.
Webinar in Spanish with simultaneous translation into English and ItalianParticipation is free; registration is required at the following link: https://bit.ly/3S5Bhhy
Film of the show: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK8iTIUPsd3ijCkYYlxE-UmvePQ89VEE2
In Latin, theatrum mundi literally means “theatre of the world.” For Eugenio Barba, it refers to an intercultural theatre in which artists from diverse traditions work together: from Asia to Japan, via Europe, Latin America, Bali, and India, to name a few.
The Theatrum Mundi ensemble was born from research in theatrical anthropology, a discipline founded by Barba with the ISTA (International School of Theatre Anthropology).
The underlying idea is that, beyond cultural differences, there exists a shared “stage professionalism” among actors and dancers from different traditions.
This is why Barba himself speaks of “Eurasian theatre,” “a technical and theoretical dimension that unites East and West through the actor’s craft.”
Performances such as Ur-Hamlet, Mythos, and Kaosmos are examples of this approach, in which different languages, music, body techniques, and rituals coexist on the same stage without being reduced to mere exoticism or folkloric demonstrations.
