We were something other. Letter to Marco Donati to Understand Our Theatre of the Seventies
Abstract
While reading the dossier on “The Seventies, community theatre, Italy” in «Teatro e Storia» n. 41, I felt that our experience as theatre community and social centre, Teatro del Drago and Centro Sociale Santa Marta, is not adequately represented. At that time, in the Seventies, theatre was one whole thing: life, shows, interventions, ways of being together, rebellion, action, energy, friendship, political struggle and teaching even with no experience. Theatre pushed us in many different directions at the same time and economy was not a priority: many of us made money doing other things or were students supported by their parents. We were dilettantes, ‘amateurs’, although we got paid for our shows, which meant that we cared about what we did. Theatre was not a profession, but a life choice. At that time, it was able to change people radically. What was essential was lived, not explained nor understood.
Keywords
Teatro del Drago, Centro Sociale Santa Marta
Julia Varley
Julia Varley worked in Italy with the Teatro del Drago, the Centro Sociale Santa Marta and the Circolo La Comune. She joined the Odin Teatret in 1976. Since 1986 she has been involved in the conception and organisation of the Magdalena Project, a network of women in contemporary theatre, and since 1990 in the conception and organisation of ISTA (International School of Theatre Anthropology) directed by Eugenio Barba. She is the artistic director of the Transit International Festival, Holstebro. She has directed 21 plays and written books, articles and essays published in Italian, English, Spanish, Chinese, Greek, Arabic, Portuguese and French. In 2020, together with Eugenio Barba, she founded the Barba Varley Foundation to support artists who are disadvantaged in terms of race, gender, political opinions and social belonging.