In the wake of James Knowlson’s monumental Beckett biography, we add Alain Badiou and Nicola Savarese to the list of authors in Empilhadora, a collection of books on theatre history and aesthetics, essays, memoirs and biographies. Elogio do Teatro [In Praise of Theatre] (2013) stems from a conversation between Alain Badiou, one of the foremost modern philosophers, and Nicolas Truong, a Le Monde journalist, within the context of 2012 edition of Théâtre des idées, a cycle promoted by the Festival d’Avignon. Looking back on the ages-old dialogue between theatre and philosophy, Badiou demonstrates that the theatre is largely an orienting device: “Once one has understood how to use it, one can no longer do without this compass.” Italian essayist Nicola Savarese, one of the founders of the International School of Theatre Anthropology, is the author of O Teatro Euroasiático [Eurasian Theatre] (2002). Savarese claims that oriental performing arts – Noh, Kabuki, the dances of India and Bali, Peking opera… – are an active concept in modern theatrical culture, having been quite influential in the theory and practice of Edward Gordon Craig, Meyerhold, Artaud, Brecht or Grotowski.