Advice for directors

Spotted these... er... gems on a mailing list:
> 1. Pick or write your own material.
> 2. Know the story.
> 3. Know the characters.
> 4. Do not try to find exercises for actors.
> 5. Cast well - direct less.
> 6. Trust your instincts.
> 7. Do not let actors direct other actors.
> 8. Demand that actors learn the words.
> 9. Demand the best that each actor has.
> 10. Keep your car near the rear exit on
> opening night and leave the engine running.
And if these were the 10 best bits of advice i could think of for a budding director, i think i'd leave the engine running too. I'm sure we can all do better than this.
Anyone care to submit their own? I'm going to work on one in between writing Christmas cards :)
Cheers
Grant

I would like to add "Don't assume that because you know a lot
about drama that you also know a lot about acting" - but I
won't. Too hard getting parts as it is.

Sorry,
but i'm not intersted in particular in answering
i'm an italian director
first time on the web
looking for someone far a way
intersted in theatre to talk with me
i hope you will write to me
I' m working on a new performances, for the 14th of march i'm loosing myself in work
by and happy end of the century

10 rules for Community Theatre Directors.
1)If you must pre-cast a play either by necessity or choice,do it discreetly
2)If its a choice between putting on a sub-standard play,and cancelling the show,cancel the show,either way the theatre company will send you to Coventry,but at least you know that somewhere in this town,SOME company will let you direct again!!!!
3)If you are not well liked or supported by your peers don't even think about putting on a play in this fair city of ours ,at auditions or performances NO-ONE will come.
4)Grow an extremely THICK skin,if you can't take criticism of any kind,directing(yea even acting!!)is not for you!!!DON"T DO IT!!!!!!!
5)Be honest at all times,if an actor stinks in your opinion,say so,the person's ego may be bruised,but it can save years of wasted time on the part of someone who thinks they can,but can't ACT well,and probably will never be able to.
6)Never,Never,Never cast your husband/wife/lover/pretty young thing you're dying to get it on with in your play,your judgement is clouded from the start and you run the risk of ending your relationship as well!!!
7)Don't saddle yourself with a rotten play,if the script is a great one,it only needs a good cast to make it work,if its a real stinker it needs superb actors and even then it may fail regardless,and superb casts(by that I mean Academy Award winning material)are not easy to come by,possible yes,but not easy to come by.
8)Avoid competitive theatre(ie Finley Awards,Drama Festivals)its a hobby after all, and in the end ,in this game it all starts and ends with a bare stage,and quite frankly,I think it takes away the fun,and as most of us will only be doing this for pleasure and not payment,what's the point,it will only lead to tears before bedtime.
9)Take it as a given that if you submit to direct a season at a theatre and are unsuccessful,don't expect to be notified that you were unsuccessful,why you were unsuccessful,or even get your submitted scripts scripts back,it seems that in this day and age,those common courtesies are far too tiresome for a theatre company to bother with (Playlovers please note!!!!)
10)If in doubt,don't.
regards
TBO

"3)If you are not well liked or supported by your peers don't even think about putting on a play in this fair city of ours ,at auditions or performances NO-ONE will come."
Good god, that is the loudest scream of "clique" I have heard!

Well it's true!!!!!!

*off topic*
Where's Leah when i need her? How about explaining the nature of truth for us, Leah. :)
if Leah is listening/reading, i do hope you're feeling better now and Kimberley too!
i know how you feel Kim, i had mine out about 8 years back.
hehehe
that'll leave 'em all guessing
sheesh... this is starting to sound like a gossip post ;)
Cheers
Grant

Having failed dismally to follow through on my earlier pledge (December 99!) to provide a few pointers of my own, i hesitate to nit pick over someone else's pearls of wisdom.
*hesitates*
okay, now that's out of the way...
The Banished One wrote:
-------------------------------
> 10 rules for Community Theatre Directors.
rules? the things that are made to be broken?
> 1)If you must pre-cast a play either by necessity or
> choice,do it discreetly
So people can discover later that you led them on, letting them think they had a chance of a role when you'd already snuck around behind their backs and pre-cast?
Can't agree with you on this one TBO. If the role is pre-cast, don't waste people's time having them audition for that role. Be up front and honest. Tell people when they ring to audition that certain roles are already cast.
Mind you, i would draw a mirky grey line between pre-casting and having people in mind for a role - perhaps this is what you are referring to?
I'd think a director is pretty silly not to at least have some people in mind for major roles. As long as you take an open mind into the audition and are prepared to be surprised by and maybe cast the auditionee that stuns you and is perfect for the role, you haven't pre-cast.
> 2)If its a choice between putting on a sub-standard
> play,and cancelling the show,cancel the show,either
> way the theatre company will send you to
> Coventry,but at least you know that somewhere in
> this town,SOME company will let you direct again!!!!
Hopefully the decision to pull a season should never rest entirely with the director. If the director can't convince the company the show is better off cancelled, then perhaps there was something seriously wrong from the outset.
> 3)If you are not well liked or supported by your peers
> don't even think about putting on a play in this fair
> city of ours ,at auditions or performances NO-ONE will
> come.
I'm with Jay (you're pregnant - wow! congratulations!) on this one.
> 4)Grow an extremely THICK skin,if you can't take
> criticism of any kind,directing(yea even acting!!)is
> not for you!!!DON"T DO IT!!!!!!!
But then we won't have our directors grow that thick skin into a tough, impervious, chitinous coating that doesn't admit new ideas, plays or ways of doing things, will we :)
> 5)Be honest at all times,if an actor stinks in your
> opinion,say so,the person's ego may be bruised,but it
> can save years of wasted time on the part of
> someone who thinks they can,but can't ACT well,and
> probably will never be able to.
wooo! big judgement call here! who am i to say someone can't act? i might be sure of my own opinion on the subject, (Gwyneth P. was pathetic in Shakespeare in Love!) but i'm not sure that that gives me the right to brutalise someone with that same opinion - particularly in community theatre where the focus is often more on participation than product.
> 6)Never,Never,Never cast your
> husband/wife/lover/pretty young thing you're dying
> to get it on with in your play,your judgement is
> clouded from the start and you run the risk of ending
> your relationship as well!!!
There must be countless examples to prove you wrong! What about Kenneth Brannagh and Emma Thompson?
Oh... okay. But they were great when they were together! :)
> 7)Don't saddle yourself with a rotten play,if the script
> is a great one,it only needs a good cast to make it
> work,
*snip*
i'm with you ninety percent of the way here. Choose the right play and the right cast, you're ninety percent done.
> 8)Avoid competitive theatre(ie Finley Awards,Drama
> Festivals)its a hobby after all, and in the end ,in this
> game it all starts and ends with a bare stage,and
> quite frankly,I think it takes away the fun,and as
> most of us will only be doing this for pleasure and not
> payment,what's the point,it will only lead to tears
> before bedtime.
Yup! I dislike the competitive bits as much as the next person - even if it is nice to label yourself "award winner" on occasions. If that was all the Finley Night and DramaFest were about, then fine. But they can, should and do mean so much more than just competition and awards. As adjudicator at last year's DramaFest i spent nearly two hours giving my personal responses, enthusing and i hope constructively critiqueing the remarkable entries in the youth festival. Presenting the awards took all of ten minutes. I like that balance.
> 9)Take it as a given that if you submit to direct a
> season at a theatre and are unsuccessful,don't
> expect to be notified that you were
> unsuccessful,why you were unsuccessful,or even get
> your submitted scripts scripts back,it seems that in
> this day and age,those common courtesies are far
> too tiresome for a theatre company to bother with
> (Playlovers please note!!!!)
This may have been your experience, it doesn't match my own, either with Playlovers or anyone else. I'm sure it does happen and i guess i'd understand that some voluntary committee members are better organised and prepared than others.
> 10)If in doubt,don't.
Oh do, DO!
I can't believe this is the same person that wrote bemoaning the conservative choices of some companies under the subject Drama for Deckchair on the Gossip board:
"I want to see innovation and daring come back to the theatre on a more regular basis"
Surely innovation and daring are entirely about having doubts but doing anyway?
Thanks for livening things up with some interesting ideas and discussion!
Cheers
Grant
PS. You may find that people frequenting these boards will regard your assuming a nom de plume as a licence to flame mercilessly.

"I'm with Jay (you're pregnant - wow! congratulations!) on this one."
Thanks Grant...anyone doing a production of 'Baby?'
"PS. You may find that people frequenting these boards will regard your assuming a nom de plume as a licence to flame mercilessly."
Yeah and then we will all eat you... BWAHAHAHAHA!

It is not often that I reply to the messages posted on this website however i read all messages everytime I am on the net (subscriber)...however i now feel the need to make comment like Miss Jay and Grant...
" 8)Avoid competitive theatre(ie Finley Awards,Drama Festivals)its a hobby after all, and in the end ,in this game it all starts and ends with a bare stage,and quite frankly,I think it takes away the fun,and as most of us will only be doing this for pleasure and not payment,what's the point,it will only lead to tears before bedtime. "
I disagree with this comment beyond words!!! Before making my comment i will let you know I am only a young actress therefore encouragement is a huge thing to me....
Iin 1998 I was part of the Bunbury One Act Play Fest and the State Drama Fest (youth section)....I have never felt so (i may be being very innocent and naive here) encouraged...liked...admired...'in'....welcome ...in my entire life. (This has nothing to do with my play doing well in both festivals).
The people, not only judges and organisers etc btu fellow actors, were continually talking to me and commending our performance. I was even asked to join a few different groups, which I would still love to do (i just have to try for the 3rd time to get my drivers license - and i will be up there in a flash).
The Drama Fests (if you take on the right attitude) can be so much fun and so exciting. Imagine a whole weekend dedicated to other people like you.
Also just a quick mention to rule number 1
1)If you must pre-cast a play either by necessity or choice,do it discreetly.
This is the total opposite to my previous comment. With one of my local drama organisations there is alot of pre-casting. Come on!!! We are all intelligent people we can see when things have been pre-cast...so i agree with Grant DON'T do it discreetly be up front.
I went for an audition at my previously mentioned local organisation and I have never been for one since, because the same people get the best roles everytime, only for the fact that they can 'give' something in return to the centre/organisation putting on the production.
I feel sick in the stomach when ever i walk into the centre.
They had a great little youth group *crow* that i was part of until i (along with the co-ordinator) realised the unjust way it was being 'used'. *note they lost their co-ordinator because of this fact*
on the other hand I went recently to the audition for Rebecca at Melville....even though i was not successful I would like to say a big 'congrats' to the way they handled their auditions. They were professional and encouraging and I wish them well for the production.
On that note I sign off
Sky (wannabe future Blak-yak-er)
PS. Who ever has something to do with The Last Supper..can u give a big 'break a leg' to Tom. I really would have loved to of seen it however i am away on hols YAYA when it it showing near me. (if he doesn't recognise my name remind him of Blackrock Beach..no this is nothing to gossip about just a past play)

It gives me no small amount of pleasure to note that a list of tongue in cheek comments(apart from the last two on the list)was taken so seriously,however as it seems to have missed its mark entirely,I feel I must write this e-mail to let this be known.Thankyou Grant for the largeness of spirit to thank me for engendering so much discussion.

Regarding my post about innovation and daring,I stand by my comments.(In spite of feeling like I needed my head sewn back on after Sidsel's post)

The Banished One is no more after this post,I will come back under my real name at a later date.

(And,no I am not David Meadows!!!)

I commend both the ITA & Grant for putting together this site and hope it becomes more widely used in the future.

Signing off forever

TBO

.

The only things I keep in mind while directing or what ever is;-
{What - Where - When - Who - Why & How}

"To approach the stranger
is to invite the unexpected, release a new force,
Or let the genie out of the bottle.
It is to start a train of events
beyond your control"
‘The Cocktail Party’ T S Eliot

"Great art conceals art" Konstantin Stanislavski
"Less than great art conceals little" J Michael Gillette

‘Rejecting the predictable; avoiding the probable and exploiting the possible.
To bring about glimpses of the perfect but impossibleÂ’

Pick Two.
You can have it:
1 .Done Well
2 .Done Cheap
3 .Done Fast
Answer: only # 2, & 3 apply

THE 6 P's.
1.Prior
2.Planning
3.Prevents
4.Piss
5.Poor
6.Performance

I also agree with the other comments of pre-casting - but what do you do?
Although it should not happen - a lot of Re-Directors like too feel comfortable with those they know and who knows there short commings.
To me there is no 'X-Factor' of "what we are about"
We do tend to defeat ourselves with comments of " we might not get another part - unless?" at least in the City you can go to another theatre and apply for auditions - in the country, you have little choice! Their way or no show.

Joe McCabe

I have only just browsed through this pile. How did your show go?

Let me know
Malcolm