In 1961, Italian theatre student Eugenio Barba left his studies at the State Theatre School in Warsaw to join Jerzy Grotowski at Teatr 13 Rzędów in Opole. After three years with Grotowski, Barba travelled to India where he learned Kathakali, then returned to Oslo with the intention of becoming a theatre director. As a foreigner in Norway he found this was not easy, so he formed his own company, Odin Teatret, in October 1964. The company members were young people who had failed to gain admission to the Oslo State Theatre School and they rehearsed their first production in an air raid shelter.