The Biomechanical Vocation in Twentieth-Century Theatre. A Brief Historical Excursus

Abstract

The essay puts forward a theoretical proposal, that interpenetrates philosophical theories and theatrical practices in a multifaceted aesthetic vision, from Aristotle to Meyerhold and Barba, going through Descartes, Diderot, Kleist, Craig and the Futurists. Thus, it tries to offer some snapshots of how the organic/mechanical, body/spirit, man/machine dialectics – cornerstones of the history of Western thought – inhabit and condition the ideas of theatre and the actor throughout the ages.