Lesson 2: Dramatic Composition into Visual Composition

The moment rehearsals start every playwright is a dead writer...

The show, the baby, the third... (overview of theatre functions, crew)

"First of all, what is directing? One of the most authoritative men of our time, Monsieur Porel, speaking at the International Theater Congress of 1900, has defined our art in terms that are so precise and well chosen that I feel it a duty and a pleasure to quote his comments:

Without directing, without this respectful and precise science, this powerful and subtle art, many plays would not have come down to us; many comedies would not be understood; many plays would not enjoy success.

To grasp clearly the author's idea in a manuscript, to explain it patiently and accurately to the hesitant actors, to see the play develop and take shape from minute to minute. To watch over the production down to its slightest details, its stage business, even its silences, which are sometimes as eloquent as the written script. To place the bewildered or awkward supernumeraries where they belong and to train them, to bring together in one cast obscure actors and stars. To harmonize all these voices, all these gestures, all these various movements, all these dissimilar things--in order to achieve the right interpretation of the work entrusted to you.

Then, having accomplished this and having methodically done all your preliminary studying in the calm of your library, to take charge of the material side of production. To supervise patiently and accurately the carpenters, scene-painters, costumers, upholsterers, and electricians.

Then when this second part of the job is finished, to fuse it with the first by making the cast perform with real furniture and props. Finally, to view the finished production at arm's length, as a whole. To take into account the tastes and habits of the audience in just the right proportions, to omit anything that may be needlessly dangerous, to cut anything that is too long, to eliminate errors of details that are inevitable in any work that is done quickly.

To listen to advice from interested parties, to weigh it in the mind, to decide when to follow and when to reject their advice. Finally, with a quickening of the heart, to open one's hand, give the signal, let the work appear before so many assembled people! It is an admirable profession, is it not? One of the most curious, one of the most fascinating, one of the most subtle in the world!

ANDRÉ ANTOINE (89-90) Behind the Fourth Wall [ in Directors on Directing: A Source Book of the Modern Theater * Book by Helen Krich Chinoy, Toby Cole; Bobbs-Merrill, 1963 ] recommended reading

2007 groups.google.com/group/directing -- [ reader for class ]

* What does director do and what doesn't do? (Lists)

Some shows I dream about my entire life... Not Caligari. Why? Why now?

Year later: Thinking about Caligari [2008-2009]