Charles Dullin

Charles Dullin (; 8 May 1885 – 11 December 1949) was a French actor, theater manager and director.

Career Dullin began his career as an actor in melodrama :185 In 1908, he started his first troupe with Saturnin Fabre, the Théâtre de Foire, where they staged works by Alexandre Arnoux. :317 whose company he joined in 1913 for one season, before rejoining from 1917 to 1918. :73 André Antoine and Firmin Gémier.

In June 1920, Dullin began taking on students and was giving acting lessons at the Théâtre Antoine under the tutelage of Gémier. :111

Théâtre de l'Atelier In July 1921, Dullin founded Théâtre de l'Atelier which he referred to as a "laboratory theater". The small group of students, among them Antonin Artaud and Marguerite Jamois, was organised as a commune, with Dullin looking to create 'a different attitude toward theatre' through a 'common sharing of life and work'. :31 In order to cover the initial cost of leasing and setting up the theatre, Dullin's mother sold some of the family's furniture and silverware at pawn shops. :36; :45

In 1941 he moved to the 'larger, more modern Théâtre Sarah-Bernhardt', where he remained resident until 1947 when accumulating debts forced him to close down. :78

Work on film Dullin also played many roles on the screen, and used some of the money earned in these roles to support his theater. He was one of the major French actors both on the stage and the screen during the 1930s.

Acting theory and techniques Dullin put a particular emphasis on mime, gymnastics, voice production, and various improvisational exercises intended to heighten one's sensory perception. :119 In the tradition of Copeau, Dullin emphasised respect for the text, a simplified stage décor and a poetic rather than a spectacular perspective on the mise-en-scène, placing the actor at the center of the performance.

The goal of Dullin's training was to create the "complete actor":to form actors with a general culture, which they so often lack; to inculcate them from the very beginning with solid principles of actors' techniques: good diction, physical training; to expand their means of expression to include dance and pantomime; in one word, to form the complete actor. :135 His interest in Japanese theatre developed as early as 1916, when, as a soldier in World War 1, he performed on the frontline and declared his fellow soldier's performances to be Japanese due to their integration of dance, speech and singing into their performance. :134

As a member of Jacques Rouché's Théâtre des Arts (1910-1913) he performed in Louis Laloy's Le Chagrin dans le palais de Han (1911), an adaptation of a Chinese Yuan zaju play. :29 Juozas Miltinis, Étienne Decroux, Juran Hisao and Marcel Marceau.

Notable productions

As director

Ben Jonson's Volpone Molière's L’Avare Sophocles's Antigone in the Jean Cocteau adaptation with music by Arthur Honegger Pirandello's The Pleasure of Honesty Shakespeare's Richard III.

As actor Âmes d'orient (1919) - Agapian The Secret of Rosette Lambert (1920) - Bertrand L'Homme qui vendit son âme au diable (1921) - Le Diable Le Miracle des loups (1924) - [Louis XI|Le roi Louis XI] Le Joueur d'échecs (1927) - [Wolfgang von Kempelen|Baron von Kempelen] Misdeal (1928) - Olivier Maldone Cagliostro (1929) - Marquis de Espada-Comte de Breteil Les Misérables (1934) - Thénardier Street of Shadows (1937) - Le colonel Mathésius L'Affaire du courrier de Lyon (1937) - Le témoin aveugle Volpone (1941) - Corbaccio The Chain Breaker (1941) - Esprit Mouret Les jeux sont faits (1947) - Le marquis Quai des Orfèvres (1947) - Georges Brignon Vagabonds imaginaires (1950) - Le récitant (segment 'Les étoiles' by Alphonse Daudet) (voice) (final film role)