Directing

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Directing
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Brief History/Development

• didaskalos- Greek, means teacher
• In Greek drama this was a teacher/director
  passed along wisdom and techniques for correct
  performance
• Didaskalos taught the chorus mainly
• Playwright handled other directing duties,
  staging etc.
• 2. Elizabethan times Shakespeare directed and
  later in France Moliere directed his company.
  This was a manager/actor/director someone in the
  company that served as the director

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• 3. 1750-1850 Manager/director Or
  Manager/Actor/director prevailed.
• 4. 1874- In reaction to the theatre style that
  can be described as????
• Melodramatic/only physical gt
• Duke of Sax Meiningen, George II of Germany
  toured Europe with his theatre group

Moved directing toward a more realistic purpose
or goal Instead of teaching correct performance
or being part of the company, now the director
was an individual entity whose goal was To guide
the actor to an individually, realistically
conceived role
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• This directing style influenced Stanislavski
• Also, he moved away from Star system- he
  focused on all character/actors as important
  aspects of the stage life and they had to be well
  develop and real
• 5. 1930 and beyond- Movement away from realistic
  plays
• Non realistic playwrights demanded the creation
  of originality, theatricality, and style.
• Director now had to meet the demands of scripts
  that did not necessarily follow a linear format.
  They had to adjust to the style and purpose of
  the playwrights

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Director defined

• Overall artistic leader of a production
• Responsible for organizing the production around
  a production concept
• Must guide an ensemble of actors, designers, and
  technicians for a production so that the
  production is unified and coherent

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Functions of Director

• -play analysis and readings
• Read play 8-10 times, perform analysis
• -develop/facilitate development of Production
  Concept-
• Overall idea or focus of production that unifies
  every production element
• -Collaborate with designers allow for creative
  freedom, but control the choices and guard the
  concept and overall effect of choices

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• -Casting place actors in the roles based on
• ???
• Script requirements
• Production Concept
• Physical appearance
• -work with actors
• Rehearse/prepare/guide
• Coach acting (educational)
• Be a critical eye
• -Insure that messages/story is clear to audience
  through
• Blocking

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Blocking

• Movements of actors on stage from moment to
  moment in play
• Should be based on
• Character motivations and actions in the script
• Style of play or style of production from P.C.
• Composition create stage pictures that . . .
• Help to make dramatic action clear
• Make dramatic action visually stimulating
• Give visual information
• Guide/focus the audiences attention

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How can blocking achieve all of this??

• -bodily positions open or closed
• sitting, standing,
  facing, avoiding
• -spatial relationships where actors are in
  relation to others
• -stage areas- see next slide

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Stage Areas
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• -height difference
• -lighting primary way to focus audience that
  does not hinge on actor and director.
• Blocking is the primary way director and actor
  can give visual info and focus audience attention

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examples
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