We create and share unforgettable stories with audiences locally, nationally and around the world – on our stages, in urban spaces, on tour, in schools, on screen and in virtual reality. We strive to be as inclusive, diverse and sustainable as possible.

Our artistic starting point is an interest and curiosity in theatre forms from both Western and non-Western traditions, and a desire to create a unique expression based on this encounter. We believe that our performances offer opportunities for, and are an occasion for, a meeting of differences, whether you are an audience member or a performer.

We enrich Danish performing arts with residencies, seminars, teaching activities, concerts, barter, guest performances, festivals and major international collaborations and networks. We create ambitious new works of high artistic quality, the result of a unique working method and tradition developed and refined over many years.

We extend our reach through online activities with conferences, workshops and streaming of performances. Alongside the expansion of our digital offer, we have founded the Immersive Lab for Innovation in Theatre Making and Archive (ILITA) as part of a strategic development project. An entirely new medium to explore performing arts, technology and society in a virtual universe and as a future potential to connect the local, national and international in a framework that can draw on both new and old experiences in the spirit of the theatre laboratory.

Whether you’ve seen our performances many times before or are meeting us for the first time, we hope you’ll be entertained, seduced and moved.

Welcome.

Odin Teatret was founded by Eugenio Barba in 1964 in Oslo, Norway. In 1966 the theatre moved to Holstebro and changed its name to Nordisk Teaterlaboratorium – Odin Teatret. Its 40 employees today come from 11 different countries and four continents.

Laboratory activities include: Our own productions presented in Holstebro, Denmark and abroad; ‘bartering’ with various environments in Holstebro and elsewhere; organisation of theatre group meetings; hosting theatre groups and ensembles; teaching activities in Denmark and abroad; the annual NTL Open Festival; publishing journals and books; production of didactic films and videos; research in theatre anthropology at sessions of ISTA (International School of Theatre Anthropology); periodic performances with the multicultural Theatrum Mundi Ensemble; collaboration with CTLS, Center for Theatre Laboratory Studies at Aarhus University; Holstebro Festival Week; OTA, Research and dissemination, which serves as NTL’s living memory; WIN, Workout for Intercultural Navigators; artists in residence; children’s performances, exhibitions, concerts, panel discussions, other cultural initiatives and collaborative activities in Holstebro and surrounding region.

NTL’s many years as a laboratory have resulted in the development of a professional and research environment characterised by interdisciplinary activities and international collaboration Since 1979, the research area of ISTA (International School of Theatre Anthropology) has developed into a performing arts village where actors and dancers meet with researchers to compare and investigate the technical basis of theatrical presence. Another active area is the Theatrum Mundi Ensemble, which since the early 1980s has presented performances with a permanent core of artists from many professional traditions. From the beginning, Odin Teatret has concentrated on the actor’s training and ability to create presence on stage and build new relationships with the audience. In addition, analysis and development of the dramaturgies that make up a performance. There has been a constant interest in learning and passing on learned technical knowledge, because Odin’s actors are self-taught and have had to train themselves and each other.

NTL – Odin Teatret has created a total of 81 shows and performed in 66 countries in many different social contexts. Through these experiences, a special culture has grown up, based on cultural diversity and the ‘barter principle’: Odin’s actors present themselves with their work to a specific environment, which in turn responds with songs, music and dances that come from their own, local culture. A barter is an exchange of cultural expressions and provides insight into the other’s forms of expression. It is a social give and take that breaks down prejudices, language barriers and differences in thinking, views and ways of being.