Transcript Image Maker: The Director - Louisiana Tech University

Chapter 10 – Image Maker: The Director
The theatre of the future, if it
is to hold us, will have to
shake off . . . the belief that it
is showing us “a real room
with real people.” For the
theatre’s role is to present life
. . . through some kind of
poetic vision, metaphor,
image—the mirror held up as
’twere to nature.
—Alan Schneider
Chapter Summary
• In collaboration with playwrights and other artists and
assistants, directors interpret and shape performances
as theatrical metaphors of our world.
Forerunners
• Concept of director evolved in 1860s Europe.
• Prior to that time, “staging” determined by actors, theatre
managers, and/or playwrights:
– David Garrick (English actor-manager)
• First “modern” directors:
– Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (Germany)
– André Antoine (France)
– Konstantin Stanislavski (Russia)
• Director:
– Understood all theatrical arts
– Shaped production into unified whole
Director as Artist
• Director collaborates with playwright, actors, designers,
and technicians:
– Creates a carefully selected vision of life—a special
mirror
• Theatre’s role from a director’s viewpoint:
– Presents “life not in its literal exactness but rather
through some kind of poetic vision, metaphor, image”
(Alan Schneider)
Director as Artist
• Director is controlling artist:
– Responsible for unifying production elements
• Three types of director:
– Dictator—treats actors and designers as “servants”
– Creative coordinator—accepts creative input
– Guide—provokes and stimulates cast and crew
• Director’s job is to discover the potential of a play:
– Search for the “spine” or “through-line”
Director as Artist:
Peter Brook and The Mahabarata
• Cycle of three plays:
– The Game of Dice
– The Exile in the Forest
– The War
• Adapted from Sanskrit poem (400 BC)
• Brook makes minimal yet spectacular choices:
– Dramatic use of elements (fire, earth, water)
– Symbolic properties:
• Wooden wheel = Krishna’s chariot
• Billowing cloth = newborn children
• Battles conveyed via Eastern martial arts
Director as Artist:
Peter Brook and The Mahabarata
• Brook’s intention not to make older texts appear modern
or relevant
• Wants to connect the stage and the world around him
A theatrical act cannot influence the political world. But
theater allows us to open up to something beyond the
daily horrors; it allows us to reinforce something positive
inside each of us.
—Peter Brook
Directors at Work
• Director’s responsibilities:
– Selecting or creating a script
– Deciding on interpretation and “look”
– Auditioning and casting actors for each role
– Working with crew to stage production
– Rehearsing the company
– Coordinating design and production elements into
unified performance
Directors at Work
(c) Barry Slobin /PlayMakers Repertory Company
• Auditions and casting:
– Matching actor to role
• Design conferences:
– Prior to casting,
director selects design
team
– Confers with team to
set production concept
Pauline Flanagan and Brendan O’Malley in
The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Directed by
Nagle Jackson
Directors at Work
• Ground plan:
– Defines shape and
size of playing space
Directors at Work: Assistants
• Assistant director:
– Attends production meetings
– Coaches actors
– Rehearses special or problem scenes
• Stage manager:
– Compiles promptbook
– Prepares rehearsal schedule
– Records blocking, cues, etc.
• Voice (dialects) coach:
– Works with actors to ensure audibility and clarity of
meaning
Directors at Work: Assistants
• Movement coach (fight coordinator):
– Works with actors for safety and expressive physical
work
• Musicals:
– Musical director
– Choreographer
• Nonprofit theatre:
– Production dramaturg
Directors at Work:
Production Dramaturg
• Gotthold Ephraim Lessing:
– Playwright
– Joined Hamburg National Theatre (1767) as house
critic
– Advised on play selection and production
• Responsibilities of dramaturg:
– Select version of text to perform
– Prepare translation or adaptation
– Do background research on play, playwright
– Serve as critical “eye”
Staging: Approaches and Styles
(c) Martine Franck/ Magnum Photos, Inc.
• Elia Kazan:
– Wanted to be faithful to
playwright’s intentions
• Mike Nichols:
– Sought controlling idea or
event—truthful moment(s)
that illuminate playwright’s
meaning
• Anne Bogart:
– Bases approach on
mystery and danger in text
Ariane Mnouchkine’s Staging of Richard II
Staging: Approaches and Styles
• Preplanned approach:
– Rehearsals used to “block” the play:
• Determine entrances, exits, where and when to
stand, sit, etc.
• Collaborative approach:
– Director and actors work together to develop
movement, gestures, character relationships, stage
images, and line interpretations.
Director as Auteur: Julie Taymor
• Approach:
– Blend of Eastern and Western theatre
– Studied and worked in Paris, Eastern Europe, Japan,
Indonesia
– Incorporates masks, puppets, dance, tai chi, singing
• Juan Darién:
– Features puppets, masks, movement, and a musical
score sung in Latin and Spanish
– Production reflects cultural influences from Europe,
Japan, and Indonesia
Director as Auteur: Martha Clarke
• Dance theatre:
– Trained as dancer at Juilliard School
• Chief creator (auteur) of her theatre pieces
• Works are expressions of her subconscious, not
narrative:
– “If you watched a rehearsal of mine, you would see
that nine-tenths of it is in such disarray. I flounder. . . .
I’m foggy a lot of the time. And the actors and dancers
have to search as much as I do.”
• The Garden of Earthly Delights:
– Interpretation of Hieronymus Bosch painting
Core Concepts
• Before the emergence of the director in the 19th century,
leading actors, managers, and playwrights ran the
theatres, dictated production elements, and took care of
financial matters.
• A coordinating specialist—the director—became
necessary with advancing technology and changing
subject matter brought about by new currents in social,
aesthetic, and political thought.
• Today’s audiences experience theatrical works through
the director’s imagination and intellect, often to such a
degree that the modern director has become almost as
distinct a creative force as the playwright.