Charles Dullin

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.:76 He aimed to create a total theatre in which the world of the stage was 'more expressive than reality'. 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. The actor was to get in tune with "La Voix du Monde" (the voice of the world) by making contact with one's surroundings, which would free the actor's true voice, "Voix de Soi-Même" (the voice of oneself).:347 In his seminars, Dullin often used improvisation, which was one of his most important techniques. He emphasized that his actors must "see before describing, hear before answering...and feel before trying to express himself", often using bells, the sound of footsteps, and masks as preparation. His actors were encouraged to forget the weight of their bodies, while using them more than their faces to express themselves, often wearing a full or half mask.

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.

Students of Charles Dullin included Pascale de Boysson, Antonin Artaud, Jean-Louis Barrault:29 Juozas Miltinis, Étienne Decroux, Juran Hisao and Marcel Marceau.

Dullin drew heavily on East Asian theatre techniques, and particularly Japanese theatre: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. He would first perform in the minor role of un seigneur before taking over the role the Emperor, one of the play's two leads, for its revival in December. In addition to starring in the revival, Rouché asked Dullin to modify some aspects of the staging, which, according to Rouché, foreshadowed his ‘future tendencies towards stylisation’:133 He would first witness Japanese theatre in 1930, when Tsutsui Tokujirō's troupe came to Paris.