Actors Vs Directors

Woah! A discussion where the opinions are worth more than the average two cents!
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From experience on both sides of this puzzle, IÂ’ve come to believe that theatre is (or should be) a collaborative effort between ALL parties involved.
The way I like to look at it:
A director should be the guiding hand, they should be the one with all-encompassing vision of the project. It is their job to ensure that all the other little component parts are cohesive.
The actorÂ’s job is to breathe as much life into their roles as possible.

Even if a director has one hundred times the amount of concentration on the play than an individual actor, that actor still has more time to concentrate on their character, and therefore KNOW THEIR CHARACTER, than the director does.
The actor should be busy concentrating on their place in the scheme of things, the director should be concentrating on making sure that EVERYONE is finding their place in the SAME scheme of things.

A director should encourage and nurture their actors to finding and developing their own characters so they are, in the end, exactly where the director wanted them in the first place 
ItÂ’s a sleight of hand trick more than anything. ItÂ’s the old axiom that if a worker feels that they have some ownership of their process they will perform better than if the feel they are just a robot.

Two examples:

Scenario 1: A prominent local theatre group did a well-received production of a major musical some years ago. This show was impeccably produced, however it was also basically just a carbon copy of a carbon copy of the film, which was a carbon copy of the original broadway production. It was big, it was spectacular, it was COLD!
As one of the few dissenting voices about this production, I voiced my opinion, to which someone replied, Well, there is really only one way to do that show.
I made the point that I had seen three different performances of the same production of an opera (I think it was Don Giovanni), and even though the sets, costumes, moves, everything were all the same, they were actually three totally different productions. Because the performers were able to find their own road to the final result, and had brought with it slightly different interpretations.
MORAL FOR DIRECTORS: Let the actors think for themselves.
MORAL FOR ACTORS: DonÂ’t be afraid to find your own way to the required destination.

Scenario 2. Another prominent theatre group did a well-received production of a musical version of “Much Ado About Nothing”. I was cast in the role of Don John. I had a very definite idea of how I thought Don John should be played (dark, brooding, sinister, full of hatred to his brother because of… yadda yadda yadda… think Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter). The director (the wonderful Kim Martin) had a much different idea of how the character should be played (light, charming, evil because its FUN… think more Draco Malfoy). Every rehearsal we had battles over my portrayal. I was heading full on down a road that while still being viable for MY CHARACTER would have meant that I’d ended up in a totally different location than the rest of the play. Kim kept dragging me back, dragging me back, and in the end I found for myself the character that he wanted, and it worked a treat.
(Even though I did snap my cruciate ligament three weeks before going on so ended up doing the role with a walking stick and being just that little bit more Richard III anyway)
MORAL FOR DIRECTORS: Always make sure that the actors are heading for the same destination
MORAL FOR ACTORS: Just because youÂ’ve found A road doesnÂ’t mean that itÂ’s heading in the right direction, trust your director.