Part V. Hamlet: showcase

Stanislavsky: «What exercises resembling solfeggi are needed by him? What scales, what arpeggi for development of creative feeling and experience are required by the actor? They must be given numbers... for systematic exercises in the school and at home. All books and works of the theatre are silent on this score. There is no practical textbook». ( My Life in Art, 166-67) 2007 -- Postmodern vs. Modern Issues : Hamlet & Hamletmachine Script Analysis Directory & DramLit Featured Pages: Film Directing -- directing.filmplus.org This is the most ridiculous act of the book -- how on earth I can even dream telling you about staging "Hamlet"? Or directing any other play? It has to be your show as I stated already -- you have to create it, my friend. NEW: Summary SHOW: 1. to present as a public spectacle : 2. PERFORM Questions "That we live in a dramatic age is obvious everywhere, except in the theatre." Conor A. Farrington, Irish Playwright (textbook, p. 1) -- What as sad picture to watch the activists-stars, the celelbrities, "protesting war." Notes Last Note: learn on yours, or better, others' mistakes. This is why I keep my process (open rehearsals) visible for the cyber-directors. Consider each show you see as your show, stage in your mind every play you read, cast in your "wish list" titles every actor you watch... Artist is the "24/7/365 machine"! SOLILOQUY - Lines delivered by an actor on stage as if to her/himself... This is how I feel about directing... "Theatre forms congregation. Look at plan of Moscow and cities! Police, Prison, Theatre, together. Russian way of life. Best Soviet theatres replaced the church." Smelyansky The plot has been called the body of a play and the theme has been called its soul. (see SHOWS directory: themes, images, symbols). The Possessed 2003 There are several Chekhov's one-act comedies I use for class projects in my acting-directing projects (finals): Wedding, On the High Road, Proposal, Bear. [public domain] The play was a great success, but the audience was a disaster. Oscar Wilde promptbook PDF Film, Stage and Television Director ( Radio or Television Director ) * [ Duties and Tasks Quick Facts Personal Requirements Related Industries Labour Market Related Jobs Earnings Related Courses Qualifications State Specific Information ] jobs * In 2002, actors, producers, and directors held about 139,000 jobs, primarily in motion picture and video, performing arts, and broadcast industries. Because many others were between jobs, the total number of actors, producers, and directors available for work was higher. Employment in the theater, and other performing arts companies, is cyclical—higher in the fall and spring seasons—and concentrated in New York and other major cities with large commercial houses for musicals and touring productions. Also, many cities support established professional regional theaters that operate on a seasonal or year-round basis. About one fourth of actors, producers, and directors are self-employed. Actors, producers, and directors may find work in summer festivals, on cruise lines, and in theme parks. Many smaller, nonprofit professional companies, such as repertory companies, dinner theaters, and theaters affiliated with drama schools, acting conservatories, and universities, provide employment opportunities for local amateur talent and professional entertainers. Auditions typically are held in New York for many productions across the country and for shows that go on the road. Employment in motion pictures and in films for television is centered in New York and Hollywood. However, small studios are located throughout the country. Many films are shot on location and may employ local professional and nonprofessional actors. In television, opportunities are concentrated in the network centers of New York and Los Angeles, but cable television services and local television stations around the country also employ many actors, producers, and directors. * The Hippocratic Oath (Fifth century, B.C.) "I swear by Apollo the physician, by Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that according to my ability and my judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation--to reckon him who taught me this Art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this Art, if they wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others. I will follow that system or regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. With purity and with holiness I will pass my life and practice my Art. I will not cut persons labouring under the stone, but will leave this to be done by men who are practitioners of this work. Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and, further, from the seduction of females or males, of freemen and slaves. Whatever, in connection with my professional service, or not in connection with it, I see or hear, in the life of men, which ought not to be spoken of abroad, I will not divulge, as reckoning that all such should be kept secret. While I continue to keep this Oath unviolated, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the Art, respected by all men, in all times. But should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse be my lot." [ applies to any artist, including DIRECTOR -- "Holy Theatre" ] music files Godot.06 UAF main stage * Script Analysis Theatre Books Master Page * 4.2.07. Too many topics are left for the last part: You and Style, Theory, Showcases... "Your style" is your shows. Theory is a mirror to look at yourself. ... Presentational Theatre in focus.

Part V. Showcase: Hamlet, The Tragedy

Directing is silent. Directing is invisible. When you hear or see it, I am at fault. If director is omnepresent, we should see him at all. What what for? Director must die. In his actors, in light and furry of the drama. Good director should rest in peace.

Of course, we have to cover comedy and drama, but Hamlet is used throughout the whole semester. So, you can see the scenes for class and homework from 3 Sisters, The Importance of Being Earnest and etc., but in directing class I try to stage with the genre of tragedy (there the real theatre began). Read Aristotle or Nietzsche to see why and how important to understand the so-called "dramatic poetry"!

Most of the pages on Hamlet are in production notes "HamletDreams" directory. Story and plot, scenes, character analysis and so on.

In The Empty Space Peter Brook talks about four types of theatre:

1. The Deadly Theatre -- Bad Theatre and deadly spectator

2. The Holy Theatre: Invisible -- Man -- Visible

3. The Rough Theatre -- Popular

4. The Immediate Theatre -- performance: actor/subject/audience + rehearsal: actor/subject/director

I would like to speak about The Holy Theatre, but this is a textbook and I have to stay with the Immediate Theatre.

KING CLAUDIUS puts LAERTES' hand into HAMLET's

HAMLET 
Give me your pardon, sir: I've done you wrong;
But pardon't, as you are a gentleman.
This presence knows,
And you must needs have heard, how I am punish'd
With sore distraction. What I have done,
That might your nature, honour and exception
Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.
Was't Hamlet wrong'd Laertes? Never Hamlet:
If Hamlet from himself be ta'en away,
And when he's not himself does wrong Laertes,
Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.
Who does it, then? His madness: if't be so,
Hamlet is of the faction that is wrong'd;
His madness is poor Hamlet's enemy.
Sir, in this audience,
Let my disclaiming from a purposed evil
Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,
That I have shot mine arrow o'er the house,
And hurt my brother.

LAERTES 
I am satisfied in nature,
Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most
To my revenge: but in my terms of honour
I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement,
Till by some elder masters, of known honour,
I have a voice and precedent of peace,
To keep my name ungored. But till that time,
I do receive your offer'd love like love,
And will not wrong it.

I left the last (5th) part for the practical applications of directing theories. Use HamletDreams (or any other showcases in shows.vtheatre.net) for your specific needs. Each play, each actor, each show is unique. There is no just "comedy" or "drama"; the genre on stage has it own intonation (remember, the "style" part?) -- there is no generic "public"; it's different every night. You have to leave your show "under construction" = leave some room for actors to tailor it every night. Show must "breath"....

Read again part IV (Public), because you have to find your own dance with your public. Strangely enough, we end where we started -- vision, concept, message.... After all, the show is a form of your dialogue with your contemporaries. A thought between many, live. There is no such a thing as mindless entertainment, only good and bad theatre. Read Peter Brook's "Empty Space" -- if you can't have this invisible talk with your public, you have no show.

I always say to my students, remember about the "after-show" life of the show! The show must live in their memory and imagination for the rest of their lives. This is the right result of the spectacle....

I hope by now you understand the idea of spectactle, the way Aristotle meant it. It could be minimalistic (that is what you will have while learning -- The Poor Theatre), it could be simple, but spectacle is the last dramatic component (6 Principles), which concludes the whole process. And you, the director, are in charge of it!

... Let me finish my theatre love stories.

Do you love theatre? "Oh, God! I love acting!"

In my books it's impossible to love directing without being in love with the small things: this very line in the script, or the way your actor moves from the table to the sofa, or ... you know, what I mean.

* Spring 2005 assignments:

Wedding -- class project (finals)
last month (April) -- 8 ponts (classes), last week = run-through

Public presentation -- lab space, after the THR221 "The Bear" * Fall 2005 -- Four Farces & One funeral chekhov.05

Use Theatre Terminology!

Homework

Next: Shake Page

@2002-2005 film-north *

Illustrated Theatre Production Guide: Illustrated Theatre Production Guide contains a brief history of physical theatres and the development of various forms such as thrust, proscenium, and black box venues. Operation of theatre equipment is covered in detail in the chapters on rigging and curtains. Instructions for operating a fly system and basic stagehand skills such as knot tying and drapery folding, are clearly outlined. The use of metal tubing as a structural element is explored as an alternative to wooden scenery. The chapter on lighting discusses electrical theory as well as the practical aspects of hanging and focusing lights. The final chapter in Illustrated Theatre Production Guide is a compilation of many different projects that are easy to approach and to complete, and have practical value for a theatre group. $24 0240804937

The Production Notebooks: Theatre in Process (Theatre in Process, Vol 1): (Paperback)

Theatre Audiences: A Theory of Production and Reception: Susan Bennett's highly successful Theatre Audiences is a unique full-length study of the audience as cultural phenomenon. It considers both theories of spectatorship and the practices of different theatres and their audiences. Published here in a new updated edition, Theatre Audiences now includes a new preface by the author, a new chapter on intercultural theatre, a revised conclusion encompassing the influences of cultural materialism and psychoanalysis on audience theory, as well as an updated bibliography. A must for anyone interested in spectatorship and theatre audiences.

Create Your Own Stage Production Company: The practical, step-by-step guidance packed into this book shows aspiring theatrical producers just how to set up and run a successful stage company. Starting with forming a company, the author explains how to establish and fund a budget; book a stage venue; obtain necessary licenses and insurance; see that health/safety regulations are in compliance with local laws; then cast, rehearse, and put the show on view for the public and critics. Details on the duties of the house manager, stage manager, technical crew, and box office help are all included, along with tips on publicizing and promoting shows.

How to Run a Theater: A Witty, Practical, and Fun Guide to Arts Management: The definitive arts management guide, this book is written with tremendous insight and humor and packed with dozens of lists, such as "22 Wonderful Ways to Improve Your Life in the Theater" and "20 Distractions that Erode Productivity." It provides information on improving an organization by building audiences, bolstering fundraising, and tightening finances. Also covered are tips for solidifying relationships with boards, volunteers, communities, and colleagues. It's all here, from managing one's own life, working with a board of trustees, and managing a team to negotiating, fundraising, marketing, and financial management. This resource will appeal to all those who work in arts management-from novices to veteran middle managers and executive directors.

Stage Management (7th Edition) (Paperback): The "bible" in the field of stage management, this book is a practical examination of the role of the stage manager in overall theater production. Full of practical aids such as websites and email addresses in every chapter, checklists, diagrams, glossaries, and step-by-step directions, this volume has been used and admired by students and theater professionals alike. It eschews excessive discussion about method or philosophy and, instead, gets right to the essential materials and processes of putting on a production. Perhaps most importantly, Stern has continued to keep pace with the technological and professional developments affecting the stage. For theatre professionals, or anyone with an interest in stage management/ theatre management.

Theatre on the Web:

The Production Notebooks: Theatre in Process (Theatre in Process, Vol 1)

The Director's Vision: Play Direction from Analysis to Production

From Belasco to Brook: Representative Directors of the English-Speaking Stage (Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies) 0313276625

references:

http://www.oldandsold.com/articles25/play-directing-15.shtml

http://www7.acs.ncsu.edu/University_Players/stuff/directors.htm

http://www.prosoundweb.com/studyhall/psw_studyhall/stage_terms.shtml

http://www.byu.edu/tma/arts-ed/units/1dirunit.htm

http://members.cox.net/theathcotte/directing.htm

http://users.ev1.net/~dandpm/caws/directing.html

stagematrix.com