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A theatre director or stage director is a practitioner in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production (a play, an opera, a musical, or a devised piece of work) by unifying various endeavours and aspects of production. Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one A play, or stageplay, is a form of Literature written by a Playwright, almost always consisting of Dialogue between Fictional characters The director's function is to ensure the quality and completeness of theatre production and to lead the members of the creative team into realizing their artistic vision for it. The director therefore collaborates with a team of creative individuals and other staff, coordinating research, stagecraft, costume design, props, lighting design, acting, set design and sound design for the production. Stagecraft is a generic term referring to the technical aspects of theatrical film and video production Costume design is the Design of the appearance of the characters in a Theater or cinema performance A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is any object held or used on stage by an Actor for use in furthering the plot or story line of a Theatrical The role of the lighting designer (or LD) within Theatre is to work with the director, Set designer, Costume designer, and sometimes Acting is the work of an Actor or Actress, which is a person in Theatre, Television, Film, or any other Storytelling Scenic design (also known as stage design, set design or production design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as Film or Sound design is a technical/conceptually creative field It covers all non-compositional elements of a film a play a music performance If the production he or she is mounting is a new piece of writing or a (new) translation of a play, the director may also work with the playwright or translator. A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or Drama. In contemporary theatre, the director is generally the primary visionary, making decisions on the artistic concept and interpretation of the text and its staging. Different directors occupy different places of authority and responsibility, depending on the structure and philosophy of individual theatre companies. Directors utilize a wide variety of techniques, philosophies, and levels of collaboration.

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The director in theatre history

In ancient Greece, the birthplace of European drama, the writer bore principal responsibility for the staging of his plays. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. A writer is anyone who creates a written work although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally as well as those who have written in many different forms Actors would generally be semi-professionals, and the playwright-director oversaw the mounting of plays from the writing process all the way through to their performances, often - as was the case for Aeschylos for instance - also acting in them. Aeschylus (ˈɛskɨləs or /ˈiːskɨləs/ Greek: Ασχύλος, Aischylos, 525 BC/524 BC 456 BC/455 BC was an ancient Greek Playwright He would also train the chorus, sometimes compose the music and supervise every aspect of production. The term applied to him, didaskalos, the Greek word for "teacher," is indicative of how these early directors had to combine instruction of their performers to staging their work. [1]

Jean Fouquet: The Martyrdom of St. Appolonia (1460), depicting the staging of a mystery play, led by a theatre director
Jean Fouquet: The Martyrdom of St. Appolonia (1460), depicting the staging of a mystery play, led by a theatre director

In Medieval times, the complexity of vernacular religious drama, with its large scale mystery plays that often included crowd scenes, processions and eleborate effects, gave the role of director (or stage manager or pageant master) considerable importance. Vernacular refers to the Native language of a country or a locality Mystery plays and Miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in Medieval Europe. A miniature by Jean Fouquet from 1460 (pictured) bares one of the earliest depictions of a director at work. Jean Fouquet or Jehan Fouquet (1420 - 1481 was the most important French painter of the 15th century a master of both panel painting and manuscript Holding a prompt book, the central figure directs, with the aid of a long stick, the proceedings of the staging of a dramatization of the Martyrdom of Saint Appolonia. According to Fouquet, the director's tasks included overseeing the erecting of a stage and scenery (there were no permanent, purpose-built theatre structures at this time, and performances of vernacular drama mostly took place in the open air), casting and directing the actors (which included fining them for those that infringed rules), and addressing the audience at the beginning of each performance and after each intermission. [2]

From Renaissance times up until the 19th century, the role of director was often carried by the so-called actor-manager. The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere This would usually be a senior actor in a troupe who took the responsibility for chosing the repertoire of work, staging it and managing the company. This was the case for instance with Commedia dell'Arte companies and English actor-managers like Colley Cibber and David Garrick. Commedia dell'Arte ( Italian: "the comedy of artists" is a form of Improvisational theatre that began in Italy in the 16th century Colley Cibber (ˈkɒli ˈsɪbɚ (11 June 1671 &ndash 12 November 1757 was a British actor-manager playwright and Poet Laureate. David Garrick (born 19 February 1717 in Hereford &ndash 20 January 1779) was an English Actor, Playwright,

A portrait of Constantin Stanislavski by Valentin Serov.
A portrait of Constantin Stanislavski by Valentin Serov. Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (Russian Валентин Александрович Серов ( January 19[[ 865]] - December 5[[ 911]] was a Russian

The modern theatre director can be said to have originated from the staging of elaborate spectacles of the Meininger Company, large scale theatre productions staged by Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. The Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen was one of the Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin Dynasty The management of large numbers of extras and complex stagecraft matters necessitated an individual to take on the role of overall coordinator. [3] This gave rise to the role of the director in modern theatre, and Germany would provide a platform for a generation of emerging visionary theatre directors, such as Erwin Piscator and Max Reinhardt. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Erwin Friedrich Maximilian Piscator ( 17 December, 1893 in Greifenstein -Ulm – 30 March, 1966) was a German Theatre Max Reinhardt ( September 9, 1873 - October 30, 1943) was an Austrian (later naturalised American) theatre and film Simultaneously, Constantin Stanislavski, principally an actor-manager, would set up the Moscow Art Theatre in Russia and similarly emancipate the role of the director as artistic visionary. Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski (Константин Moscow Art Theatre ( Russian: Московский Художественный Академический Театр МХАТ is a theatre company in Moscow Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending

The French regisseur is also sometimes used to mean a stage director. This is most common in ballet. Ballet is a formalized form of Dance with its origins in the French court further developed in France and Russia as a Concert dance A more common term for theatre director in French is metteur en scène.

Post World War Two, the actor-manager slowly started to disappear, and directing become a fully fledged artistic activity within the theatre profession. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including The director originating artistic vision and concept, and realizing the staging of a production became norm rather than exception. Great forces in the emancipation of theatre directing as profession were notable 20th century theatre directors like Peter Brook, Peter Hall (Britain), Bertolt Brecht (Germany) and Giorgio Strehler (Italy). Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE (born 21 March 1925) is a British theatre and Film director and innovator (born; 10 February 1898&ndash14 August 1956 was a German Poet, Playwright, and Theatre director. Giorgio Strehler ( August 14 1921 – December 25 1997) was one of the most influential directors of Italian Opera

A cautionary note was introduced by famed director Sir Tyrone Guthrie who said "the only way to learn how to direct a play, is . Sir William Tyrone Guthrie ( 2 July 1900 &ndash 15 May 1971) was an Anglo-Irish Tony Award -winning theatrical director . . to get a group of actors simple enough to allow you to let you direct them, and direct. "


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Well-known theatre directors

Directing education

Because of the relatively late emergence of theatre directing as a performing arts profession when compared to for instance acting or musicianship, a rise of professional vocational training programmes in directing can be seen mostly in the second half of the 20th century. Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE (born 21 March 1925) is a British theatre and Film director and innovator Patrice Chéreau (born 2 November 1944) is a French Opera and Theatre director, Filmmaker, Actor, and Patrick Garland (born April 10, 1935) is an actor and a director of British theatre television and film and a writer Jerzy Grotowski (11 August 1933 Rzeszów, Poland - 14 January 1999 Pontedera, Italy) was a Polish theatre director who developed Nicholas Hytner (born 7 May 1956) is an English producer and director Elia Mother, ( Greek: Ηλίας Καζάν September 7 1909 &ndash September 28 2003) was a Greek - American Robert Lepage, OQ (born December 12, 1957 in Quebec City) is a playwright actor and film David Alan Mamet (born November 30, 1947) is an American Author, Essayist, Playwright, Screenwriter and Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold (Всеволод Эмильевич Мейерхольд born Karl Kasimir Theodor Meyerhold ( &mdash 2 February 1940 ? was a Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller, CBE (born 21 July 1934) is a British Neurologist, Theatre and Opera director Ariane Mnouchkine (born 1939 in Boulogne-sur-Seine) is a world-renowned French stage director. Mike Nichols (born November 6 1931) is an American television stage and Film director, writer and producer Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American Theater director, renowned for his contemporary stagings Lee Strasberg ( November 17, 1901 – February 17, 1982) was an Academy Award -nominated Austro-Hungarian - American George Tabori George Tabori ( May Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director of Broadway theatre and film Robert Wilson (born 4 October 1941) is an American Avant-garde Stage director and Playwright who has been called "'s Mary Zimmerman is an American award winning Theatre director and Playwright. The performing arts are those forms of Art which differ from the Plastic arts insofar as the former uses the artist's own Body, Face and presence Acting is the work of an Actor or Actress, which is a person in Theatre, Television, Film, or any other Storytelling A musician is a person who plays or writes Music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music An instrumentalist plays a Most European countries nowadays know some form of professional directing training, usually at drama schools or conservatoires, or at universities. A Drama School is a higher education College which specialises in the vocational teaching of Drama (i A university is an institution of Higher education and Research, which grants Academic degrees in a variety of subjects In Britain, the tradition that theatre directors emerge from degree courses (usually in English literature) at the Oxbridge universities has meant that for a long time, professional vocational training did not take place at drama schools or performing arts colleges, although an increase in training programmes for theatre directors can be witnessed since the 1970s and 1980s. Oxbridge was originally a fictional composite of the University of '''Ox'''ford and the University of Cam'''bridge''' in England, and the term is now As with many other professions in the performing arts, theatre directors would often learn their skills "on the job"; to this purpose, theatres often employ trainee assistant directors or have in-house education schemes to train young theatre directors. Examples are the Royal National Theatre in London, that frequently organizes short directing courses, or the Donmar Warehouse on London's West End, that employs resident assistant directors on a one-year basis for training purposes. The Royal National Theatre, located on the South Bank in the London Borough of Lambeth, England. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. Donmar Warehouse is a small not for profit Theatre in the Covent Garden area of the London Borough of Camden, with seating for 250 playgoers West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London 's "Theatreland"

Drama schools that offer professional vocational training in theatre directing include:

Styles of directing

Directing is an artform that has grown with the development of theatre theory and theatre practice. Rose Bruford College (formerly the Rose Bruford Training College of Speech and Drama) is a British Drama school, offering professional vocational training The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art ( RADA) in Bloomsbury, London, is generally regarded as one of the most prestigious Drama schools in the world The London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art ( LAMDA) founded 1861, is a leading British Drama school in west London. With the emergence of new trends in theatre, so too have directors adopted new methodologies and engaged in new practices. Generally speaking, directors adopt a style of directing that falls into one or more of the following categories:

The dictator
In this style of directing, the director has a strongly assertive role and is very dominant in the process of creating a theatrical work. Rehearsals are more or less fully controlled and predictable, with the actors having little or no say.
The negotiator
'The negotiator' is a style of direction in which the director focuses on a more improvised and mediated form of rehearsal and creation, using the ideas of the production team and actors to shape a theatrical work in quite a democratic style. For Wikipedia's negotiation policy see WikipediaNegotiation. For other uses see Negotiation (disambiguation.
The creative artist
The director sees himself or herself as a creative artist working with the 'materials' of dramatic creativity, be they the actors, designers and production team. Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works The "creative artist" wants input from the actors but, as artist, has final say over what is included and how ideas are incorporated.
The confrontationalist
In this style of directing, the director is in constant dialogue and debate with the cast and the production team about creative decisions and interpretations. A dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog) is a reciprocal Conversation between two or more entities. Debate ( American English) or debating ( British English) is a formal method of interactive and position representational Argument. The director seeks out and actively engages in such exchanges. Out of these exchanges, which can sometimes be heated or risky, comes a final contested product.

Many contemporary directors use a creative amalgam of styles, depending on the genre of the theatrical work, the nature of the project and the type of cast. A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set

Once a show has opened (premiered before a regular audience), theatre directors are generally considered to have fulfilled their function. From that point forward the stage manager is left in charge of all essential concerns. Stage management is a sub-discipline of Stagecraft. Although a somewhat fluid line of work in essence the stage management team (which can consist of a production

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ Brocket, Oscar G. A play, or stageplay, is a form of Literature written by a Playwright, almost always consisting of Dialogue between Fictional characters This is a list of Theatre directors who have been active in the 20th and 21st centuries. A dramaturge or dramaturg is a position within a theatre that deals mainly with research and development A film director, or filmmaker, is a person who directs the making of a Film. A television director directs the activities involved in making a Television Episode. The term art director is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in Advertising, Publishing, film and Television, the Internet An actor, actress, player or thespian (see terminology) is a person who Acts in a Dramatic production and who works A bit part is a supporting acting role with at least one line of dialogue A celebrity is a widely-recognized or famous person who commands a high degree of public and media attention For other uses including various songs titled "Movie Star" see Movie star (disambiguation. The word charisma (origin from the Greek word χάρισμα (kharisma, "gift" or "divine favor" from kharizesthai, "to favor" An act is a division or unit of a theatrical play or Opera. The number of acts in a production can range from one to five depending on how a writer structures the Method acting is an Acting technique in which Actors try to replicate real life emotional conditions under which the character operates in an effort to create a life-like ‘Presentational acting’ and the related ‘representational acting’ are critical terms used within Theatre Aesthetics and criticism Improvisational theatre (also known as improv or impro) is a form of Theatre in which the Actors use Improvisational acting techniques The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC is an independent national labor union established in 1959 representing theatrical directors and : History of the Theatre. 8th ed. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999, p. 24
  2. ^ Brocket, op. cit. , p. 96
  3. ^ Russel Brown, John (ed): The Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 334
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