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| Me, directing a scene from our 2009 production of MIDDLE AGED WHITE GUYS at Talon Winery. |
* Controls the
artistic direction and VISION of the production. The director is the person
responsible for how the show looks, sounds and feels. This is a very complex
position, that often times is misunderstood. An old instructor of mine used to
say "If a show is GREAT, the actors get the credit...but if the show is
BAD, the director gets the blame." As someone who has directed over 50
shows, I can tell you that truer words were never spoken!
HISTORY OF THE
DIRECTOR-
The history of the
position known as the director is an interesting one. The position, as we know
it now, has only been around for some 150 years (which in the scheme of Theatre
history is NOT very long) There has always been someone who provided some of
the functions we now equate with the director, but the position didn't come
into it's own until sometime in the mid 19th century.
The text divides the
history into three phases:
1) Teacher Director
phase- from the beginnings of Greek Theatre, there was always a TEACHER who
would instruct and guide the actors. This person was referred to as the
didaskalos (meaning teacher).
2) Realistic
Director phase- As the theatre began to move in a more realistic fashion, and
strive for a sense of verisimilitude (meaning "very similar to life), the
position of the director began to flesh itself out. One man, George II (also
known as the Duke of Saxe Meiningen) would become the father of modern
directing and help establish the director as a separate and important
entity(circa 1874 ). The Duke of Saxe-Meiningen toured Europe with his troupe
of actors. The tour showed theatre artists the value and artistic opportunity a
director could have. For six years prior to the tour, the Duke of
Saxe-Meiningen implemented basic directing principles which continue to be
used, if modified, today. His principles included intensive rehearsals, the
demand for disciplined and ensemble acting (NO stars), historically accurate
sets and costumes, the directorial need for vision and total control over all
aspects of the production, and the value of minute detail. Many of the Duke's
methods are still in place to this day.
3) Stylized
Director Phase-On the heels of the realism movement came a backlash (around
the early part of the 20th century) and a group of theatre practitioners who
were more interested in creating "Theatrical brilliance" than in any
sense of verisimilitude. They helped to solidify the director's position as a
visionary, in total artistic control.
A theorist named
Edward Gordon Craig wrote in a now famous essay that the director should be
"likened unto the Captain of the ship".
DIRECTORIAL FUNCTIONS"
The text divides the
functions of the Director into two separate phases, each with separate duties.
1) Preparatory
phase (things done BEFORE rehearsal begins). These include:
a- play selection
b- concept
c- designer selection
/ design phase (The text separates these- I feel they go hand in hand)
d- casting (The old
adage says that casting is "90% of directing! Incidentally, film director
Woody Allen says that 90% of directing is "showing up")
2) Implementation
phase: (From rehearsal to the stage.) These include:
a- staging (blocking,
choreography, etc)
b- actor coaching
c- Pacing ( a surefire
way to know if a director has not done their job is to pay attention to the
overall pacing of the show. Is it too slow, does it seem to drag or are things
firing by so fast you can barely catch the meaning? This is a crucial and very difficult
aspect of the job.
d- coordinating (In
essence, tying together all the loose ends)
e- production-
Strangely enough, the director has no real "job" during this time.
His/Her job is actually finished AFTER final dress rehearsal. The show
is then in the hands of the stage manager, and the director is free to move on
to another project.
QUESTION - Which aspect of the directors job do you
feel would be the most challenging or difficult to accomplish?
19 comments:
Implementation phase: I feel this stage would be the most difficult or challenging, but picking out of this stage I think the staging and actor coaching part because you have to make sure everyone in the play knows where they are going, what they are doing at all times, and just making everything come together as a whole. This could be very difficult if someone in your play doesn’t know the script or does just not understand what you want them to do. I feel like this particular part of the director’s job could get very frustrating. After you get all the flaws ironed out during this particular stage of directing it should be smooth sailing from this point until the play is preformed! To be completely honest I think this would be the most difficult for me, but over all I think every part of producing a play as a director would probably be stressful and difficult.
I think that the implementation phase would be the most challenging. Under this phase though I think that pacing would be the most difficult part. After all the actors know their parts and the choreography, the pace could still be off. If they realized that the play was moving way too fast or too slow, they have to go back and coach the actors again and maybe change some of the choreography so I think pacing would take the most amount of time and effort.
I feel like the most challenging aspect of a director's job would be casting. I think that would be a hard task because you would need the perfect people to play the characters. When casting people for a play most directors already have a vision of what they want the person to look like that will be playing certain characters. i think it would be hard to find that perfect person for all characters and that it would get discouraging if you were unable to find the person you wanted. I am always interested to see what the director has chosen for a certain character to look like.
In my opinion the preparatory phase seems the most difficult. I feel like making the initial decisions on what you want the play to be, what you want the actors to look like, and what the settings should be are all factors that will affect the other phases in the process and will be a huge factor of the final outcome.
I feel that staging in the implementation stage would be the most challenging or difficult aspect of the directors job. Staging includes blocking and choreography and is the process of selecting, designing, adapting to and modifying the performance space. Staging is a very important aspect and takes a lot of time, effort and thinking through from the director.
I would say the the Coordinating Phase would be the most difficult. I feel like the blocking and staging and other larger aspects of the production would be easier to accomplish than trying to make sure that all the smaller detailed things had been taken care of. There is more room for error by skipping or forgetting a smaller task.
I would feel that the most difficult thing that the director has to do, as far as a job would be "Implementation phase". I feel that this would be difficult because actually getting people to do what you envision in your mind is hard to do. Within that phase I believe the most hardest task they would have to get done so that the audience knows what is going on would be staging, actor coaching and pacing. I feel that each of these have the same difficulty levels. Getting the cast to do the right movements with there part can be challenging and aggravating at times I could only imagine. Coaching the actors on how to act the part of the character could be really hard because the director may see it as one way and the cast see it as another way. Finally pacing I believe can be challenging because it may be hard to set the pace when people are nervous about the performance itself and the director may have to worry about someone getting stage freight.
I would feel that the most difficult thing that the director has to do, as far as a job would be "Implementation phase". I feel that this would be difficult because actually getting people to do what you envision in your mind is hard to do. Within that phase I believe the most hardest task they would have to get done so that the audience knows what is going on would be staging, actor coaching and pacing. I feel that each of these have the same difficulty levels. Getting the cast to do the right movements with there part can be challenging and aggravating at times I could only imagine. Coaching the actors on how to act the part of the character could be really hard because the director may see it as one way and the cast see it as another way. Finally pacing I believe can be challenging because it may be hard to set the pace when people are nervous about the performance itself and the director may have to worry about someone getting stage freight.
Oddly enough, I would say the real challenge would be the production. I know the director has no hand in this, but I feel he/she would feel a lot of pressure when production begins because he/she has no say so. I think the director might be hoping he did a great job in the other areas under his control and it will show when the play begins. This might be the time when the director second guesses himself; did I choose the right costume for that scene or did I place this actor in the correct spot for maximum benefit? As in any production, things usually don't go as rehearsed so the director has to hope he "directed" everyone to carry out his plan when he isn't around. I believe the director would feel the greatest pressure right before the curtain goes up and until the curtain drops because it is only then will he know if he directed things correctly and to the publics' approval.
I feel that pacing would be the most challenging for a director. Making sure that the play is running a the right speed could be difficult. It could be difficult to work towards one vision, when everyone may see the play and how it should be portrayed in different ways.
I feel the hardest stage would be the implementation phase because that can make or break the production..the habits both good and bad that are taught in the phase will be what carries on in the show. This is the center of the show its the core or a production and its hard to get everyone seeing on the same vision as you so I feel this is the make or break point that can prove to be very stressfu.
The most difficult or challenging phase of a directors job would be the preparatory phase, in my opinion. This phase involves the "creation" of the play. There are a lot of things that have to happen during this phase that are very important to the play. The director must choose what the play is about, cast the members and decide what kind of person they are as well as create the setting of the play.
I would say that the staging phase would be the most difficult. The director has to mold all of the characters together and make them all mesh. Also having to put together dances and music and where to mark the stage for the perfect lighting. That would be the most challenging part.
In my opinion casting is definitely the most difficult/important part of directing because without the right person cast in a certain role the whole production can crash, however with the right actors/actresses cast an average production can be transformed into magic.
I feel that the most challenging aspect of a director's job is the preparatory phase. I really think picking and casting actor is very difficult. Because the audience has to look at the actor and see the character not a actor and some people are not suited for certain roles. Who is playing who to me can ruin or make a production great.
To me most challenging aspect of the director’s job is the preparatory phase. To come up with the play selection, concept, design phase/ designer selection and finally the casting is quite a large undertaking. Focusing on just one aspect of the preparatory phase, the casting; the amount of time, energy, and auditions that goes into each role is overwhelming to me. Having a cast of 20 would blow me away! Combining the other responsibilities of the director in the preparatory phase demonstrates to me that that would be the most difficult phase.
The toughest stage for a director i think is the "Implementation phase". I strongly think so because alot of ideas sound good on paper but going from the transition of taking ideas off paper and putting them into motion sounds pretty cut and dry but once they are played out on stage i believe there would be so many motions and so many actions that sounded good but may seem off once put into the live production. The actions someone takes may look more out of place once actually set in motion and making the chemistry of the characters flow fluidly, many actions may need to be changed or tweaked because some things may fit for different actors, since its a live production and the characters are picked there are many more dynamics and factors that are coming into play making room for many factors that might not have been foreseen until you get the wheels in motion and see it for yourself.
The most challenging aspect fro the director would be getting his/her vision to come to life. I say this because, when you look at your blueprint, everything looks great and you're thinking everything should be roses and then when things start coming to life, you start to see flaws and now you're in a tough spot on how to fix what doesn't fit. A very frustrating task that my be and then hoping that the finished product will be up to par.
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