Max Reinhardt il pedagogo

This article aims to capture and illustrate the development of Max Reinhardt’s (1873-1943) pedagogical activity. It is one of the least investigated aspects of the Austrian actor’s, director’s and impresario’s varied, multifaceted work, despite the fact that he founded prestigious schools and workshops (even in the U.S., where as a Jew he fled from the Nazi Anschluss in 1938) which, without applying any real method or system, formed some of the greatest theatrical and cinematic talents of the twentieth century. As the great maestro he was, Reinhardt recognized the essence of his theater, which placed the talent, depth and charm of the actor’s personality at its core. No school could endow it to those who did not already have it, but finding and developing it, wherever possible, was an immense enrichment. On these foundations he founded the Berlin school of the Deutsches Theater in 1905, and in 1929 the Vienna-Schönbrunn school, both of which are the subject of this article.