Training as a Path to Ethos in the Formation of the Actor

Abstract

In this article, the authors discuss training as a way of shaping the ethos of the actor. The laboratory practice developed by the artists of the Odin Teatret and LUME Teatro serves as fundamental reference. Beginning with a historical contextualization of the European theater laboratories of the 20th century, the text moves on to focus on training within the context of the aforementioned groups. From the analysis of their artistic practices, the article proposed an interpretation of the training session as a place for developing and consolidating the ethos of the actor, understood as a catalyst for a set of practices and knowledge that artists acquire by through their work routines. In conclusion, the authors reaffirm the perspective that they offer by explaining how the laboratory practices of these theater groups has been reinvented, in light of the global pandemic restrictions of COVID-19.