Charles Dullin
Encyclopedia
Charles Dullin was a French
actor
, theater manager and director
.
. He was also a major theater teacher, who trained a whole generation of French actors.
Before Copeau returned to Paris in June 1920, Charles Dullin had already taken on students and was giving acting lessons at the Théâtre Antoine under the tutelage of Firmin Gémier, the actor who originated the role of Ubu in Alfred Jarry
's Ubu roi
. The small of group of students, among them Antonin Artaud
, developed into the "Atelier", Dullin's workshop for young actors that would prove to have a lasting effect. With this small group of actors he eventually settled in the Théâtre Montmartre, renamed the Théâtre de l'Atelier
where he would remain until the beginning of World War II.
In the tradition of Copeau, Dullin preached and practiced respect for the text, a simplified stage décor and favored a poetic rather than a spectacular perspective on the mise-en-scène, placing the actor at the center of the theatrical endeavor. Dullin also played many roles on the screen, especially when he needed money to continue to support his theater. He was one of the major French actors both on the stage and the screen during the 1930s.
Students of Charles Dullin included Antonin Artaud
, Jean-Louis Barrault
, Étienne Decroux
, Juran Hisao
and Marcel Marceau
.
as actor
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, theater manager and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
.
Life
Dullin was a student of Jacques CopeauJacques Copeau
Jacques Copeau was an influential French theatre director, producer, actor, and dramatist. Before he founded his famous Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in Paris, he wrote theater reviews for several Parisian journals, worked at the Georges Petit Gallery where he organized exhibits of artists' works...
. He was also a major theater teacher, who trained a whole generation of French actors.
Before Copeau returned to Paris in June 1920, Charles Dullin had already taken on students and was giving acting lessons at the Théâtre Antoine under the tutelage of Firmin Gémier, the actor who originated the role of Ubu in Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry
Alfred Jarry was a French writer born in Laval, Mayenne, France, not far from the border of Brittany; he was of Breton descent on his mother's side....
's Ubu roi
Ubu Roi
Ubu Roi is a play by Alfred Jarry, premiered in 1896. It is a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd and Surrealism. It is the first of three stylised burlesques in which Jarry satirises power, greed, and their evil practices — in particular the propensity of the complacent bourgeois to abuse the...
. The small of group of students, among them Antonin Artaud
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
, developed into the "Atelier", Dullin's workshop for young actors that would prove to have a lasting effect. With this small group of actors he eventually settled in the Théâtre Montmartre, renamed the Théâtre de l'Atelier
Théâtre de l'Atelier
The Théâtre de l'Atelier is a theater at 1, place Charles Dullin in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.-History:Opened on November 23, 1822 under the name Théâtre Montmartre this theater was one of the first built by Pierre-Jacques Seveste, who held the license to operate theaters outside the town...
where he would remain until the beginning of World War II.
In the tradition of Copeau, Dullin preached and practiced respect for the text, a simplified stage décor and favored a poetic rather than a spectacular perspective on the mise-en-scène, placing the actor at the center of the theatrical endeavor. Dullin also played many roles on the screen, especially when he needed money to continue to support his theater. He was one of the major French actors both on the stage and the screen during the 1930s.
Students of Charles Dullin included Antonin Artaud
Antonin Artaud
Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, more well-known as Antonin Artaud was a French playwright, poet, actor and theatre director...
, Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault
Jean-Louis Barrault was a French actor, director and mime artist, training that served him well when he portrayed the 19th-century mime Jean-Gaspard Deburau in Marcel Carné's 1945 film Les Enfants du Paradis .Jean-Louis Barrault studied with Charles Dullin in whose troupe he acted...
, Étienne Decroux
Étienne Decroux
Étienne Decroux studied at Jacques Copeau's Ecole du Vieux-Colombier, where he saw the beginnings of what was to become his life's obsession–Corporeal Mime...
, Juran Hisao
Juran Hisao
was the pen-name of a Japanese author of popular fiction in Shōwa period Japan. His real name was .-Early life:Jūran was a native of Hakodate on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō...
and Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau
Marcel Marceau was an internationally acclaimed French actor and mime most famous for his persona as Bip the Clown.-Early years:...
.
Notable productions
- Ben JonsonBen JonsonBenjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
's VolponeVolponeVolpone is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy, black comedy and beast fable... - Molière's L’Avare
- SophoclesSophoclesSophocles is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides...
’s AntigoneAntigone (Sophocles)Antigone is a tragedy by Sophocles written in or before 442 BC. Chronologically, it is the third of the three Theban plays but was written first...
in the Jean CocteauJean CocteauJean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...
adaptation with music by Arthur HoneggerArthur HoneggerArthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born... - Pirandello's The Pleasure of Honesty
- Shakespeare's Richard IIIRichard III (play)Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
.
as actor
- Le Miracle des loupsLe Miracle des loups (1924 film)Le Miracle des loups is a French historical drama film from 1924, directed by Raymond Bernard, written by André-Paul Antoine, starring Jean-Emile Vanni-Marcoux. The scenario was based on a novel of Henry Dupuis-Mazuel "Le miracle des loups", published in 1924.Numerous scenes were filmed at the...
(1924 film)