This volume foregrounds Pina Bausch, Romeo Castellucci and Jan Fabre as three leading directors who have each left an indelible mark on post-war European theatre. Combining in-depth discussions of the artists’ poetics with detailed case studies of several famous and lesser-known key works, the authors featured in this volume trace a range of foundational aesthetic strategies that are central to the directors’ work: the dynamics of repetition vis-à-vis fragmentation, the continued significance of language in experimental theatre and dance, the tension between theatricality and the performative reality of the stage, and the equal importance attached to text, image and body. This volume develops a vivid picture of how European stage directors have continued to redefine their own position and role throughout the latter half of the 20th century.