Directing - A Handbook for Emerging Theatre Directors

by Rob Swain

The theatre director is one of the most critical roles in a successful drama company, yet there are no formal qualifications required for entry into this profession. This practical guide for emerging theatre directors answers all the key questions from the very beginning of your career to key stages as you establish your credentials and get professionally recognized. It analyzes the director's role through relationships with the actors, author, designer, production manager and creative teams and provides vital advice for "on-the-job" situations where professional experience is invaluable. The book also provides an overview of the many approaches to acting methodology without focusing on any in particular to allow the director to develop their own unique methods of working with any actor's style.

Each chapter includes these key
* Introduces important theories, identifies practitioners and provides key reading to provide an overview of historic and current practice. * Interviews with leading practitioners and emerging directors. * Suggested exercises to develop the director's own approach and practical skills.

Genres: Theatre, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

Reviews

[David Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was Directing by Rob Swain which is an excellent book which I bought from kindle. This book of course is about theatre directing but isn't so much about the creative processes. In one part it says that you sort that out with the people who do jobs like the lighting & costumes. This book is more about getting on that 1st rung of the ladder & also there are sections on things like hiring a theatre and hiring people to work with etc. The easiest way to become a theatre director is if you have lots of money is finance a production and ask if you can be the director. There is no designated path to becoming a theatre director although places like RADA do offer degrees in theatre direction. Obviously having experience of things like acting and lighting helps. A lot of people who have become directors have seen an opportunity where a small production needed a director and really wanted to direct that particular play and then got bitten by the bug. One way a lot of talented directors get on the radar is via festivals like the Edinburgh Fringe. It can take lots of money to do it that way and a similiar idea is free festivals where you give the performance free but have a plate for donations. This can be quite lucrative. One problem at a lot of festivals is certain plays get ignored & it's a good idea to hire a press agent although that can be expensive. It's also easy for the critics to miss plays especially at big festivals because there are so many to get around. If you can get a theatre to stage your play one problem is that at big theatres like the National Theatre the tickets can be quite cheap and a lot of people will rather go there than see your play & it's difficult to give people a compelling reason to see your production especially because often they won't know much about it. I think if you are interested in anything to do with how plays are staged this book is well worth reading.