Directors - Acting and Concept and writing.

A couple of posts on one of the Beauty and The Beast threads have inspired me to write this thread. Both of them relate to directors and their role in the shows we do. First of all the should a Director be in a show. Lots of people have already said a lot on this subject on that thread but having my own view I thought I'd comment. I have to say that I think it takes a brave Director to appear in a show they are directing. You may believe you are giving a great performance but if we were really capable of doing that without direction then we wouldn't need Directors we would just put a cast together and let them get on with it. It is not clear from the comments whether or not the show in question had an AD, under those circumstances then fine but really why are you doing it? Is there really no one better than you available to do the role? If you really believe that then you maybe need to re examine your ego. I've done it once and I felt truly lost on stage when I was there. I had no control over what was happening and it made me nervous. OK there are occasions when you have to step in to replace someone but that's a special circumstance. Second the point that came up about performing a role exactly based on someone else's performance. I have noticed this becoming a more and more common situation. Of course I have never seen a performance of "Little Shop of Horrors" that isn't an exact copy of the film and I don't go anymore but more and more I believe we are seeing Directors concepts that boil down to "Lets do it exactly the same as the film." I know a Director in Adelaide who hasn't directed a show that hasn't been a film for years and each show is based very closely on the film. I find this horrifying. Does anyone else. Shouldn't we be approaching shows with an intent to direct them with our own special focus. Shouldn't our concept be something other than "Do this role exactly like so and so did. That's the right way to do it." There is of course another point here. Design concepts and choreography are copyrightable and remain the property of the designer and choreographer. Someone was once successfully sued for copying Bob Fosse's choreography from Pippin. An amateur company as well. Lastly this is different but is associated. Writers directing their own work. I do it but I have strong reservations. I had been a director for a long time before I started writing and had directed a number of other peoples new works with all that entails. I also feel that I can stand back and make dispassionate judgements of my writing. Actually you have to be brutal with yourself and work with listen to actors who are tough enough to tell you you've written c**p and you need to change it. Anyway any comments from anyone now I've had my little rant.