Should Playwrights Direct Their Own Work?
Wed, 11 Nov 2009, 01:57 pmstinger29 posts in thread
Should Playwrights Direct Their Own Work?
Wed, 11 Nov 2009, 01:57 pmI have recently been involved in two plays where the playwright was also the director. In one case, the person concerned felt that he would sooner have someone else direct his plays, but he didn't like to impose on anyone. In the other case, the person concerned felt that he was the best person for the job since he had such a clear vision of how the play should be performed. Also, he could be on hand to do the inevitable rewrites as the rehearsals got under way. That person subsequently expressed amazement at how differently the lines were performed to how they had imagined them in the writing, even despite their own direction.
In my view, once the writing is finished, a playwright should be prepared to sever all ties with his or her brainchild (except for the royalties) and let it fly on its own merits. Also, a director should be prepared to go with the written word and not expect to be able to rewrite the script according to his or her whims or those of the actors.
The weary but satisfying work of a writer.
Wed, 11 Nov 2009, 02:42 pmI wrote the following some time ago, regarding this same matter. Hope it assists the discussion in some way.
--
A writer walks into a theatre...
It's a really lovely space, in the art-deco style. He looks around and thinks that this is a place he can visit happily for the next few months. Armed with the latest copy of his play, he sits down in one of the comfortable seats as rehearsals begin of his play.
He does this everyday, day after day, just sits there with all the attention in the world, and makes no comment at all -unless the Director asks for it on some rare occasion he sees fit or is just stuck and looking as a fool - as the Director goes about his work with the actors and the work this writer has written.
After a while of this routine, he begins to slowly realize that the Director is not only misrepresenting this, tweaking that, but taking the play in another direction all together. Without his say-so.
But wait, the Director is doing this, this he is doing, is changing this writer's play, because he doesn't have the gonads - or balls if you will - to fire the actors because they're just plain crap in this instance. These changes, now manifest in the play, are the result of a Director's best efforts to get the best possible out of these particular actors.
Well, if that's all it takes to rehearse a play and prepare it for opening night, the writer says to himself and later the Director, taking his place in the errant spotlight beam being controlled by the pimply-faced kid working for Jack, above, "I quit this piece of amateur hour and I'm taking my play with me. You, Mr Director, can go screw yourself, you are nothing without me, I can do what you've done these last few weeks, which felt like years for me in my seat."
The Producers, sitting seperately around the theatre get up and find each other's eye. A few moments pass. The Director gets flushed red in the face. Eventually, one Producer calls out to other, "We need a bloody Dramaturge, do we not?"
Not knowing the answer to the question the Producers offer a round of blank stares toward one another.
The writer, now standing in darkness, says to them, "Did I make mention I'm taking my play with me when I leave this theatre?"
The Producers' eyes twinkle with understanding as the writer heads for the outward-opening doors.
--
Cheers,
Daniel M. (A writer with adequate bias.)
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