Tracing the Lineage. Twentieth-Century Transmission of Acting Tecnique in Italy (1910-1960)

The article examines the transmission of the actor’s craft in Italy by tracing how acting pedagogy was reshaped in the first half of the twentieth century. It focuses on the shift from artisanal apprenticeship within theatre companies – rooted in stage practice and direct contact – to the institutionalisation of training in schools, where acting knowledge was increasingly analysed, segmented, and codified. The study draws on manuals published between 1910 and 1960 (including early film-acting guides) and on the practices of performers trained during that period, analysed through a comparative reading of students’ memoirs, annotated scripts, and audio-visual materials. It maps continuities and ruptures with nineteenth-century declamatory traditions, showing how the declamatory method survived not as a coherent system but as a set of fragments that, when creatively integrated, continued to shape actor training across theatre and cinema.