Romeo and Juliette

The Director: Captain of the Ship of Stage

Theatre Is Collaborative The theatre is, by its nature, a collaborative creation: it takes lots of different people to create all of the different elements of a single performance.

Each person works together with others in their area of specialization, and then those various areas must come together to create a cohesive whole, otherwise a performance will be confusing and displeasing

Collaboration Needs a Leader

However, creative people are often very passionate that their way of doing something is the BEST way of doing something—but they may have VERY different ideas. So whose idea is the one to use? Whose is best?

In order to make all the disparate elements of a theatrical production work to create a cohesive whole, we need A DIRECTOR— someone who helps to control the entire project

Herding Cats: sometimes easier

than getting artists to agree.

The Director as Leader Think of the director as the

captain of a production. He

has lots of other specialists

under him, but the final say on

the production is his.

A director provides artistic

leadership and organizational

leadership to a theatrical

production. He is the least

visible aspect of the

production (we rarely see him)

but his stamp is on EVERYTHING

we see on the stage.

Duty 1: Choosing a Script Usually, the director is the person

who chooses the script that will be performed. In order to do this

successfully, a director must

consider several things:

1. What he would like to work on

2. What resources he has

3. Who his audience is

Choosing a Script: Factor 1 The first thing a director must

consider is what he might

like to work on: he must find

it interesting and compelling. This may seem

to be a trivial consideration,

but a director is going to

spend months, or even years working with a

particular script. If he isn’t

interested in and passionate

about the script he has

chosen, it will be a LONG

and TEDIOUS process.

Choosing a Script: Factor 2 A director also needs to consider what resources he has available to him: how much money he has, time he has, space he has, what his acting pools is, etc.

It does no good for a director to choose a script that requires 40 elderly actors and a massive set if he has an acting pool of college kids and a small black box stage at his disposal. In order to have a successful production, he must choose a script that is doable with his available resources.

A director must choose

a script that fits with his

available resources

Choosing a Script: Factor 3 A director also must consider the audience that will see his play. If

his audience is made of families

traveling for a fun summer

vacation, he will want to choose

something fun, light, and appropriate for all ages. If his

audience is a group of theatre

goers who expect new and

cutting edge theatre, he should

choose something edgy and thought provoking. Considering

the audience is important, because if the director chooses a

play without regard for the

audience, no one will come and

see it. Two VERY different audiences!

Duty 2: Finding the Spine The spine of the play is the main action of the play, a common thread or goal that links each of the scenes in a play, and can apply to each scene individually AND collectively.

A director must find the spine of the play in order to convey the central idea of the play clearly to an audience. Just like in the body, everything attaches (one way or another) to the spine. If a director fails to find the spine, he will have difficulty in creating a cohesive production. The spine MUST remain true to the events of the script and the intentions of the playwright.

Duty 3: Developing a Directorial Concept

A directorial concept is the way in which a director envisions and embodies the central concept (spine) of a play.

It is the controlling idea, vision, or point of view for the play.

Different directorial concepts can give us vastly different productions that use the EXACT SAME SCRIPT.

Two versions of Romeo and Juliet—SO different!

There are clips of both of these on Moodle for you.

Directorial Concept: Factor 1: Expression

A directorial concept can

be expressed in a number

of ways. Here are two:

• A director may place a

play in a different time

period

• A director may work

with a single central

image (example: a

large net for the play

Hamlet to show that he

is caught and unable

to escape)

Directorial Concept Factor 2: Does It Work?

A concept can show an

audience a familiar play in a

whole new light. Whatever

concept a director chooses, IT

MUST WORK FOR THE WHOLE

PLAY.

If a director chooses a concept

that works great for the first

scene and the last scene, but

does not fit any of the action of

the rest of the play, it is not a

viable concept.

Directorial Concept In fact, some directors are work with such strong directorial concepts that their work is instantly recognizable—it’s like their signature. Here are some directors you might know who have very strong concepts in their work:

• Quentin Tarantino

• Baz Luhrmann

• Tim Burton

• Wes Anderson

• Guillermo del Toro

For all of these directors, there’s something in their work that we recognize as theirs—whether it’s in their visual elements of the films, the editing, the storytelling, the style, something. But we know it’s their work as soon as we see it.

The Director: A Summation

So, a director is the person who provides

leadership for the entire theatrical

production. He is the person who has

final say on every aspect of the

production.

He is responsible for:

• Choosing the play

• Finding the spine of play

• Developing a directorial concept and

conveying it to the audience

• Working with actors and designers to

ensure that all parts of the play work

together to create a unified whole.