A Sense of Direction: Some Observations on the Art of Directing

by William Ball

A Sense of Direction represents a life's work at the art and craft of directing. Founder and long-time general director of the acclaimed American Conservatory Theatre, Bill Ball engages his audience in a wide-ranging discussion of the director's process from first reading through opening night.

Speaking as a director's director, Ball offers a candid, personal account of his method of working including the choice of a play's essential elements, preproduction homework, casting, and rehearsal techniques. Throughout, his discovering and insights guide the director in building the world of the play and bringing it to life.

Genres: Theatre, Nonfiction, Film, Drama, Art, Reference, Read For School

180 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1984

Reviews

[Rosanna Threakall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book on directing so support my studies. This is really helpful and has a really easy-to-follow structure whilst making the thought of direcitng invigorating, exciting and creative.

[Leilani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill Ball was my mentor's mentor and I have had the benefit of learning some of the principles contained in his book long before I had read it. While it's aimed at theatre direction it's a pretty useful read for anyone in the performing arts and contains some great wisdom about the creative process and what we do as performers. The book specifically helped me to understand who I am and why I do what I do. During my training I transformed as a person in part because of the lessons Bill handed down to my teacher Scott Williams and on eventually seeing written explanations of these things in the book they were reinforced and explained for me. It's sadly out of print now and a bit more difficult to buy but I do still buy copies semi-regularly to gift to people and try and keep a couple in my stash of books for that purpose. I never lend my personal copy to anyone though. You can prize that out of my cold dead hands.

As far as the practical direction, I don't agree with everything he says, but as someone who has used Bill's passed down ethos of working for a long time I can tell you that what may sound new-agey actually gives the most stunning results and fosters courageous performances and courteous working relationships. Bill Ball understood the subconscious mind, he was a true artist of the theatre and I am hugely proud to carry his incredible legacy forward into my own work and my personal life. His principles taught me not only about theatre and direction but how to be a better person. Whether you choose to implement them or not this is a fascinating read.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easily the best book on directing I've ever read, not so much for its technical advice, but for all its blunt opinions. The writing allows for free rein in thinking over one's assumptions about theatrical direction, and challenges you to question Ball's sense of right and wrong in order to find your own.

[Angelique · Rating 5 out of 5]

F- yes - this book is awesome, the whole way through. He has so much more helpful info than Ayckbourn. I even learned about playwriting. It's the first book I've read on directing and I feel like it's the only book. He looks at directing in a clear way, he looks at the art of directing, not just the skill or the how-to. I think this book may even change my life and help me be a better and more encouraging and loving person. And he's even funny (Big George and his 'Caesar, kiss my baby'). I've highlighted about 1/2 and look forward to implementing some of these techniques in directing.

[Aubrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely LOVED this book! As an actor, theater artist, and now embarking on my first venture as a director, I cannot say enough how thankful I am for the careful perspective, practical advice, and immediately applicable theory that fills every page.

[Luke Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like with previous directing reference books, this was filled with redundant tips and some politically incorrect phrasing due to a different decade. However, there were some good gems in here, and I will definitely take some of the advice to heart.

[mengwe · Rating 4 out of 5]

lots of good stuff in here

[Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

More like 4.5 stars.

After Frank Hauser's Notes on Directing, this is the best book I have encountered about the director's craft (and there aren't too many books out there that are useful at all.)

Ball is perhaps a bit too black and white on some questions, but for the most part I think his advice is practical, immediately useful, and right on the money. There are too many directors out there who don't think kindly of their actors, but coming from that background, Ball is sympathetic and give very useful advice about how directors can get the most out of their performers. His advice covers every aspect of the audition, rehearsal, technical, and performance process. Best of all, I think his book is written in such a way that the advice would apply at almost all levels of theater, whereas many of the other books I've read really only fit in the world of Broadway or large regionals.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I needed to read just now, as I prepare for our most challenging season of plays. My dear friend, mentor, second father gave me this book and I stayed up too late, read it straight through. Marvelously insightful, thought-provoking and encouraging for me as a theater director. Every director, whether of high school students or professionals, should read it.

[Lyric · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers insight from a very distinguished director about how to deal with actors, crew and the overall production of a play. There are some real lessons to be learned from Mr. Ball, especially in the chapters dealing with rehearsals (specifically in regards to the various types and functions of rehearsals). Perfect book for a young director/ producer/ writer.

[Matt Slaybaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the 3 best books ever written about making theatre. Also, it's the simplest and most practical. It's just a bit of "pie-jaw", as the author says, but it's completely magical and transformational. I have 3 copies and I've read this so many times I pretty much have it memorized.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill Ball is the man. Read this and you'll never head into tech without a peanut butter sandwich or clear idea as to what you're about...

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommended by a friend as a great acting book. I loved William Ball's approach to rehearsal and his section on objectives.

[David Curry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't routinely retain the names of stage directors, but the name William Ball has stayed with me since the 1960s. At that time, as a young man, I experienced three memorable examples of his work: the American Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford, Connecticut production of THE TEMPEST with Morris Carnovsky as Prospero; the production of Dylan Thomas’s UNDER MILK WOOD at New York’s Circle in the Square Theatre when it was located on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village; and a PBS telecast of Ball’s commedia del’arte production of THE TAMING OF THE SHREW for the American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, with townspeople cheering and booing from bleachers at both sides of the stage.

So I jumped when I learned that in 1984 the late director published A SENSE OF DIRECTION: SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE ART OF DIRECTING.

Now that I’ve read his book, I have to say that Ball is a little too New Age/positive thinking for my taste, insisting on affirmation and praise every step of the way. I could hear oleaginous TV minister Joel Osteen delivering some passages, and I could imagine an actor wondering, “Is this a rehearsal or an AA meeting?” Ball even gives us the old “problems vs opportunities” business so popular among run-of-the-mill inspirational speakers.

For all his show of allowing actors freedom, I can’t help suspecting that he may have been a tyrant in laissez-faire clothing. Here’s his formula for dealing with one type of actor: “If an actor resists all the blocking, he should (1) be taken aside and his cooperation enlisted, or (2) be abandoned by the director, and left to wander about for a few days while the director blocks other players – in such cases the actor usually is eager to be given specific blocking after a day or two.”

It would be interesting to see reaction to this book from actors, particularly ones who worked with Ball. There’s every possibility that they would praise him, despite my misgivings.

Reading Ball’s commentary on left brain (critical and analytical) and right brain (intuitive) thinking, it occurred to me that this distinction might shed some light on the interminable conflict between academic and non-academic poets, with traditional academic practice focused on the left brain, pretty much to the neglect of its more creative but intractable cranial neighbor.

A classic clash of ego in the development of a stage production: “I remember being present at an incident during a dress rehearsal of a production of All’s Well That Ends Well. A very famous director shouted: “The actress looks awful! Get a new dress!” The designer, from the other side of the theatre, shouted, “The dress looks awful! Get a new actress!”

I was fascinated by Ball’s discussion of curtain calls. For instance: “Romeo and Juliet:: Mercutio is always more popular with the audience than Romeo; and Juliet is usually a bit more popular than Romeo. If the trio enters in the order Mercutio, Romeo, Juliet, there will be an inevitable dip in the applause for Romeo. This will bruise the actor, so we allow Mercutio to enter alone and then bring the lovers on together. This way the applause will continue to crescendo.”

For the Dedication of the book, Ball lists three pages of actors he had worked with at the American Conservatory Theatre, which he founded and where he served as general director.

[James Fagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Ball provides, without explicitly stating it, a set of golden rules that any director should at its worst try and at best rely on. There are real concrete tools in here, some broad and useful in every rehearsal scenario; others, hyper specific to the top of the pro game (but those moments make the reader feel destined for success, much in the way Ball would encourage his own actors). The full spectrum of take-away is so valuable that it is almost in the category of, “If you read just one book on directing…” That’s a cliche, but as Ball would say, it’s a cliche for a reason.

Disclaimer: There are brief but ugly moments of phrasing or opinion in this book that are undeniably gendered and/or ableist. They are likely more revealing of the way the world was seen and traversed in the 80s than of the soul of the author, but that doesn’t make them any less wrong. Rather than toss the baby with the bathwater, I choose to pursue the mountain of wisdom in here, while acknowledging this book is a fallible set of ideas to weigh, take, and/or leave. It is, however, no less valuable for that.

[M Larsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don’t recommend this book. I learned a lot, but there’s also a lot that is terribly outdated; the book comes from and centers on a white man’s perspective and centers white men as actors, absolutely utterly failing to recognize the ways some of these tactics are different when applied to women or other people with marginalized identities. Some basic principles are solid but surely in the last 40 years someone has written a better, less-biased manual on how to direct.

Just one example; in one section on how to get actors to relax and trust you enough to give their best work, the author suggests you touch each one of them to establish your connection with them. I’m sorry, I would never, never, go up and touch an actor without their consent, and I can’t imagine doing so would make them MORE relaxed and comfortable - quite the opposite! Again, maybe for the older cis white men in the room, but certainly not a tactic for all actors. Yikes.

[Luke V · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was recommended to me by a fellow library director, as a good read on leadership, and I agree. Lots of good insight, regardless of field... a question is not a question, its an answer within a question, and your job is to draw out the answer. Don't speak unless you have something to say; if you're not sure, postpone and let your intuition tell you when you're ready. Being clear about what you WANT. Just a very smart book, and a pleasure to read... even the parts that were particularly theater specific were still fun, I have a new appreciation for the theater.

[Arya Shahi]

I've been reading/skimming a pile of books on directing and have come to realize: a lot of directors write with a sense of authority that doesn't particularly vibe or hold up with my experience of making art. But I guess you ask a director to write and you'll get direction!

I finished William Ball's book. It pulled me in by providing some really lovely specifics, some worthwhile tangibles, mixed in with a bit of broader birds-eye theatre making theory (many others just let loose on theory but forget the tangibles).

Ultimately, a good book. It's dated but useful.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

First read this 30 some years ago in a directing class. Decided to brush up on some tips. It’s a bit dated in a few sections (you definitely should not gently touch actors at an audition - or to begin and end rehearsals - unless you want to be cancelled) but the main points about finding actionable verbs to play remains timeless. Lots of good reminders to not be too cerebral, something that I know is my biggest challenge when directing actors.

[lionleonora · Rating 3 out of 5]

An older book, and slightly dated in some of its advice (TOUCH YOUR ACTORS. TOUCH THEM. - William Ball). That being said, really goes through the directing process from start to finish in a super useful way. Occasionally waxes poetic about the art of theater in a way that isn’t particularly useful, but on all other accounts is a really useful book.

[Ashley Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of good moments to this book. But it does have an air of entitlement that rubs me the wrong way sometimes. Makes me invested in producing theatre with no directors. However whenever I’ve done that it has proved to be a gruesome challenge. So maybe Ball has a point.

[GG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book on directing, full of practical advice on working with actors and designers, best practices for approaching a play, and scheduling/managing the course of a production through opening night.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The latter two-thirds are solid directing advice, and might even be more broadly applicable, as to a business manager or the like. But the first third involves a mix of psychoanalysis of "the actor" and something quite like The Secret. Still, a concise read and reference useful for directors.

[Price · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good practices and good insight but it's obvious it was written in the 80s by Bill Ball. Much of the language and many of the practices are dated now but there is still good content if youre able to weed through the rest of it.

[Corrine | · Rating 4 out of 5]

A read that both experienced, and novice directors can benefit from. I loved that it was mostly focused on theatre, which is a welcome change from all the film-directing books out there.

[Nathan Sims · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book on the nuts and bolts of directing. A great resource to go back to time and again.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great information, with practical application. I don't agree with all of it, but that's ok. Some wonderful insight to chew on.

His love of the theatre shines through, and that's a joy.

[M.W. Moriearty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could not finish, try as I might. Utterly, exhaustingly pretentious. On the flip side, absolutely hilarious if read in the voice of Catherine O'Hara as Moira Rose.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but I thought the writing was pretentious, particularly the first three chapters.

[Dan Blackley · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the Best books on Directing.