Advice to a Director?

Hillgate

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Anyone care to offer a few words of wisdom to me? I directed a well known two-header a few years ago and I've been asked to direct another two-header, with a strong (but small ie: 2) cast.

I've acted in a lot of plays and know what I like. I also think I can trust the actors. It's a drama and as we're just negotiating the rights I'd rather not say what it is but it's by a Brit.

Any advice, anyone?
 

icerose

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Sorry, it's not that I'm ignoring you it's just that I have zero experience so I don't have any advice to offer.
 

dpaterso

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Remember to remove the lens cap before you start filming.

Edit: dammit, wrong forum! Forget the lens cap. Remember to open the curtains.

-Derek
 

ComicBent

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What to do?

It's simple ... You have to know the play extremely well.

What is the play all about?

What does it say that makes putting in on worthwhile?

Once you know these things, you can begin to organize a plan for how to present the play in a manner that will best convey its meaning. In other words, you will figure out how best to put the best face possible on the play.

Think about it this way: You could probably mount a production in several different ways. Which one would be most appealing and most effective in communicating the drama, the comedy, the meaning of the play?
 

Toothpaste

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I guess my big advice would be "less is more". Make sure all blocking, all movements on the stage have a motivation and purpose. Some of the best theatre I've seen is a person standing still on stage and just delivering their lines with feeling and intention. Follow the director Jonathan Miller's advice and just tell the story as simply as possible. And you said you had great actors, so let their instincts help guide you.

Oh and technically, if you are working with lights, dear god make sure there are no holes. I just can't stand watching a play where the actors are constantly walking in and out of shadow.

I hope this is the sort of stuff you were looking for. That is if you are still looking for advice.
 

Cat Scratch

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What sort of advice are you looking for? It's a very broad topic--akin to asking a parent for advice on child-rearing. Where to begin?

Since this is a playwriting forum I can assume you're looking for advice from a playwright's point of view. From that stance the only thing I can think of, initially, is that you trust your material--your playwright put everything in there for a reason, so don't discount anything.

More specific questions would probably help!
 

xhouseboy

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Surpass your last one.
 

Saint Fool

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Remember that the British and Americans are two peoples seperated by a common language ... or something like that. Some scripts get Americanized. Others -- I'm thinking Stoppard and Churchill -- don't. Personally, I'm all for having actors knowing what the British usage is and letting the meaning come through in the performance. For instance, the word whinge. It's whine to Americans. but once my Texas actor understood that, the meaning of the word came through clearly.

Respect the text. That's the best way to be true to the writer's intent.
 

FTJoshua

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Have fun.

If you don't do that, it won't matter - and the audience will be able to tel, so they won't care either.
 

brydra

don't be afraid to "play." with a really small cast you have the opportunity to explore the nooks and crannies of the piece. do improv. do different styles (surrealistic, melodrama, realism, expressionism) for warmup acting exercises as well as a way to broaden your directing sense. even if the play has really serious issues, play play play!

break a leg!
 

Hillgate

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As a consequence of my directing experience I now need advice on child-rearing.
 

IanFraser

If its a British writer/play - then perhaps do some research on the dialog and make sure you're 'seeing' the material as the writer meant it. Make sure there's no irony or deliberate double meanings which the writer assumed that British audiences would simply 'get' - but which might need to be spelled out more for US audiences.

For the rest of it, get your cast happy and comfy on stage, watch those gesturing waving hands (I mean what are they teaching people these days in drama school? :p) and perhaps see the script like a ping-pong match taking place, with the dialogue firing back and forth - in constant rising and falling hills and valleys of conflict and back and forth rhythms.. like drummers in a contest..