THE DIRECTOR Chapter 6

Directing Directing is an art whose product is the most ambiguous, perhaps the most mysterious, in the theatre. The person who organizes the production. The director inspires creation of theatre with each production.

A Historical Overview Playwrights from the time of Aeschylus have been known to direct their own plays. The idea of an independent director did not exist until the 19 th century.

Teacher- Directors Didaskalos- the Greeks called teacher A teacher had already mastered his art and they then were required to teach. Reached its pinnacle in the late Enlightenment and Victorian eras.

Directors of Realism Began during the end of the 19 th century Wanted to make their plays more lifelike than those of past eras. Duke of Saxe-Meiningen was the first “modern” director.  Dazzled the German public with carefully harmonized acting, staging and scenery.  Historically correct designs  Created a true acting ensemble.

Directors of Realism Andre Antoine- Paris- Theatre Libre Stanislavsky- Moscow Art Theater They both developed innovative staging techniques in acting and actor coaching based on the duke’s staging. Sought to make the theatre a powerful social and artistic instrument for the expression of truth. Directors become part analyst, part therapist, and even part mystic.

Directors of Antirealism Aimed primarily at the creation of originality, theatricality and style, and be unrestrained by rigid formulas with respect to realistic theater. The goal was to create sheer theatrical brilliance, beauty and excitement. Paul Fort- Theatre d’Art in Paris Vsevolod Meyerhold- biomechanical constructivism- an acting method characterized by bold gestures and rapid, near acrobatic movement

The Directing Process The director may spend a year or more preparing and staging a production and then more years restaging it in different theaters. Preparation period Implementation period

Preparation Period The play is selected The text may be translated or adapted A producer is found the director begins to conceptualize the play’s production.

Preparation Period A director guides the production  Dramaturgically- the story we want to tell  Intellectually- why we want to tell it  Aesthetically- how we want it to look, sound and feel A director assembles a team of designers, technicians and actors.

Producer Finances the production Producers can be invited to help stage a play Producers can hire the director Can be part of a producing entity (groups, corporations or partnerships)

Producers in Academia Primary goal is to safeguard the ling term interests of the institution that hosts the production

Producer Hire (and fire) the director Provides financial resources Creating and managing the budget Choosing and acquiring the theater facility Establish the play’s rehearsal and performance dates Handle legal and business aspects of the production.

Choosing the Play This may come from the director or producer Considerations:  Eagerness to mount the production  Confidence that it can be successfully cast, conceptualized, budgeted and staged  Belief that the production will engender genuine enthusiasm among the artistic team, cast and audience.

Adapting the Play The most common adaptation is “cutting” or deleting lines to compress the play’s action and limit its duration. American copyright law currently covers an author’s work until 70 years after his or her death

Adapting the Play Adaptation may change the fundamental aspects of a play’s dramaturgy (history, context or theme) Adapted productions are meant to be controversial

Core Concept The director’s determination of the most important of the many images, ideas, and emotions that should emerge from the play. A director that tried to give equal weight to all of a play’s themes would create a “mess”- a production that is unfocused and “all over the place.”

Core Concept The highest priority image, idea, style or emotion becomes the play’s core organizing principal It is what the play is “about” or what it “means” It ensures that the play signifies something.

High Concept Introducing highly unexpected insights into character, story or style May mean nothing more than moving a play out of the period in which it is set and placing it in another. Modern audiences have come to expect high concepts

High Concept Aim for unique and revelatory rethinking of major works Transcending their plays’ original conventions and presenting profound, moving, new and uniquely illuminating theatricalizations that make telling references to current issues.

High Concept Must work for the entire play Heavy duty research and comprehensive thinking through the entire script

Dramaturg Literary advisor or research assistant or both A specialist in dramatic analysis who serves as a bridge between the director and the playwright Help the director with research, conceptualizing, and understanding the play’s structure, meanings and historical context.

Implementation Period Selecting the designers. Casting the actors.

Casting the Actors “casting is 90% of directing” Casting directors Auditions Callbacks

Rehearsals The play will be read aloud, memorized, staged, and rehearsed- often in rooms with makeshift “rehearsal furniture” and the walls taped on the floor. Director should maintain both leadership and creative inspiration.

Staging Goals of staging  Create focus  Lend credibility to the characters  Generate interest  Impart an aesthetic  Provoke suspense  Stimulate a fulfilling theatricality

Blocking The timing and placement of a character’s entrances, exits, rises, crosses, embraces and other major movement This is the framework of all staging Pre-Blocking- preplanning the movements on paper Some blocking may be specialized and then a director may wish to bring in a choreographer or other specialist. Business- small scale movements that a character performs within the larger pattern of blocking.

Actor Coaching The director is the actor’s coach and leads the various activities- discussions, improvisations, games, exercises, lectures, research, blocking, polishing Must provide an atmosphere where the actor can feel free to liberate their powers of sensitivity and creativity. Good directors lead their casts; great directors inspire them.

Pacing “well paced” “well directed” “slow” or “dragging” It is not just the rate at which the lines are said Created on the basis of a complex and composite time structure that incorporates many variables: credibility, suspense, mood, style and the natural rhythms of life such as heartbeat, respiration, sob, laugh

Pacing Faster tempos tend to excite, bedazzle and sharpen audience attention Slower tempos allow the audience to consider and to augment the play’s actions and ideas with their own reflections.

Coordinating In the final rehearsals the director’s responsibility become more of one of bringing together the concept and design, the acting and the staging, the pace and the performance. May have to modify or eliminate those parts of the production that aren’t communicating to the audience effectively. Technical rehearsals Dress rehearsals

Presenting No one is more useless on opening night than the director.

Director Training Most directors have brought to their art a comprehensive knowledge of the theatre in its various aspects. Entering the profession today are directors who have been trained in a dramatic graduate program or conservatory and often have supplemental training with an apprenticeship at a theater.