What are peoples thoughts on a writer directing their own work?...from experience.

1. Are they a good director? 2. Are they a good writer? 3. Do they have a strong vision of what they intend to achieve? 3a Is this strong vision any good? 3b Are they willing to sacrifice/alter this vision, should better solutions become obvious? I become wary of writers taking part in or directing their own shows if I am not confident in their abilities in those areas. It may be better opened up to other collaborators who can provide fresh ideas and abilities. And of course I mean interpretations, but whenever I use that word people 'interpret' that to be a negative trait, so let's pretend this sentence doesn't exist and let the sentence before it mean a positive experience...! I am wary of writers who participate in their own shows if I am not confident that they can be open-minded and flexible about their writing, and that they are willing and able to allow changes on the fly as the work progresses and new solutions are discovered. And I am wary of writers who are excellent at what they do and know it...because they are probably least flexible to change or allowing fresh input. No matter how good their initial product, they should at least be open to LOOKING for better solutions...because otherwise how will they know whether they exist or not? And then, the director in them needs to be strong enough to make the right choices...whether to adapt, or to stick to the original plan. Having said all that, if a writer's sense of direction is strong, and they have a strong concept worth sticking to, then of course they ought to be able to direct it. I've seen examples where I wish someone else had collaborated because they were too close to the material and couldn't see that there were possibilities for improvement; and I've seen examples where the single writer/director combination has been exactly right and couldn't have worked better. The beauty of a good play is that it ought to be taken up and produced by many other companies and directors anyway, so that is always going to be an outcome. So why the hell not let the writer be one of those many directors, if they're up to it? It's only one version of what will hopefully be many. Cheers, Craig ~<8>-/====\---------