By Vern Wall

When originally asked to write a short article about directing I was initially seized by some moments of doubt. How was I to express such a personal and interpretative subject as well as being pretentious enough as to feel that I have the knowledge base to even try and complete such a task. However, putting that aside I will attempt to try and give some insights and impressions of theatre directing gained from my numerous years of theatre. In many ways the more I read, discuss and view the directing of actors the less I feel I know. It is often a balancing act between a number of opposing ideas. When directing productions I am always conscious of trying to balance the big picture with the minute details, to move between doing it all and doing nothing, from viewing the production with fresh eyes through to adopting certain theatre paradigms.

 

What does all this mean? Beats me, but it illustrates that acting/directing is such an individualistic and personal procedure that it can be successfully approached in many ways. Having said that however I believe there are some real truisms that we must thoughtfully consider when approaching the role of director. Firstly, you must have a clear sense of vision for the show - its style and concept that is captured in casting, design and implementation. This is not as easy as it sounds as often the synergistic results of a production team result in subtle changes to the vision. Also in amateur theatre you are very much a party to the talent that presents itself and not your ‘idealistic' team. With vision it is very much a case of having an end in mind and then determining the numerous steps to achieve that result.

 

I have often found however that the vision is more conceptual than a concrete image. For example, you may have a style in mind for the set design and on collaborating with the set designer you find a design delivered that introduces new and exciting elements that you had not imagined. This creative process is very exciting as it opens so many new possibilities and this often happens with each elements of the production. This is a true synergistic event as the results of a creative team are so much greater that the combined input of each individual. Steven R Covey, a world leader in organisational behaviour and business management, motivational speaker and author and writes that.."true synergy provides results that can be almost miraculous. We create new alternatives that weren't there before."

 

And the role of the director in this process is to refine, challenge, shape, monitor and revel in this creative development.

 

Secondly, I believe it is essential that the director sets the scene for the actors and then allows them to develop their role and characters from their interaction with other cast members and the dialogue. Although this is very dependant on the age and experience of cast members it is a temptation for directors to make the cast into their mini-clones and not really develop their own skills of interpretation. On occasions you may see the director giving all the directions, how and where to move with each line of dialogue and being in ‘control' of every element of the production. The opposite of this is where a director really allows all the elements to interact and to allow the dialogue to live. My greatest thrill in directing is to see actors really take this concept on board and to watch the development of a unique performance with each and every show as they allow their character to consciously and subconsciously react appropriately to the dialogue delivered on stage. I have often stated to actors that the first time you deliver a line should not be a model for all future delivery. It should show subtle differences and growth as a reaction to previous dialogue delivery.

 

Theatre is all about risk taking. As director I constantly challenge actors to take risks. As an actor you constantly feel the tension between being fully engaging in a role and keeping yourself safe. It is often this tension which results in a stilted performance. As we let ourselves step further and further out of our comfort zone we should find that the development of the character becomes natural and an unconscious process. At the opposite end, when we try to force urselves into a role we can often create an incongruous character where our dialogue and actions do not ring true to our body language and it looks ‘false'.

 

This is a very hard process to overcome and as a result some actors look to tricks to try and make it look natural. To give an example, an actor may believe that if they develop a certain walk for their character then a resulting ‘character' will emerge. To a degree this may be true but the risk is that this trick will only allow a small proportion of the characters development and will limit possibilities. Tricks can also lead to sameness about our acting and thus we see the same tricks emerging role after role. The important role of the director in all of this is to recognise these weaknesses and to try and correct them.

 

Where else should we take risks in theatre? I believe in every production area, bearing in mind that the constraints of budget, talent pool and team experience are the elements we have to work within. However, we should still try and push the envelope as far as possible to develop genuine creative theatre.

 

Finally, I believe directors have an essential role in assisting their actors to not act. This is the hardest concept for some actors to understand - that in order to act well they have to stop acting. It can be easy for experienced actors to fool themselves into believing that the use of acting tricks and gimmicks results in good acting. Good acting needs to be the result of much deliberation, contemplation and study of the character/setting/vision so that a ‘real' character emerges on stage.

 

Live theatre is often described as ‘walking a tightrope' and this is what so draws me to it. Although cinema has produced many outstanding pieces over the years to compare it to theatre in my view is ridiculous. To view a film we really are seeing the compilation of all the perfect moments from numerous takes that create the story. When we recognise how simple the cinema process is I often wonder how they manage to get it wrong but they often do. This may be because we have the human characteristics of experience, perception and taste to name a few on deciding what is kept and what is spliced together to create the cinematic moment. Now compare this to an opening night in theatre where the audience tensely watch the actors try to remember their lines, moves and to create their unique characters. The tension is palpable and what an achievement to create this unique and special piece of theatre. No wonder I love it some much and no two performances are the same.

 

In closing, remember there is much reading material available nowadays. Some study of this
material is always worthwhile.

 

Wishing you much luck in your directing/acting/production journey, wherever that may lead.

 

Vern