Directions: Drama: The Art of Directing

The art of directing

There are many elements that come into play when "directing" is discussed. It is no surprise that this type of craft is seen as an art form. There are just so many things to consider when you are a Director. But one of the main things I wanted to explore was the role of actors and the relationship a Director should have with their actors. I particularly wanted to look at this element because for my production I have to rely heavily on 1 main character and it is essential for me to be able to get a good performance from the character. My production quality would really struggle without it. I had a read through a few books to gain greater insight on anything that I should consider when directing my actors. 


In "Directing Actors" by Judith Weston she speaks of the communication between actor and director as a "different language" something that you must learn in order to get the message through to correctly. She then goes on to say that "actors must have confidence that you understand the script and that it is "equally important" as making sure they understand the script. So it is clear to me that confidence plays a big part in successful delivery. I often lack confidence in my work and in my general ideas so I do believe this is something that I need to work on. "In any case,they need freedom and permission to explore the implications  of your directions and make it their own." This is a very interesting point because I guess the actor needs their own time to become one with the character and they wouldn't really be able to do that if you are constantly giving them vague directions. So it is clear to me that the relationship between actors and directors can be much more complexed than what it originally seemed.  

I cam across another interesting viewpoint between the relationship between actors and directors and what you could do to enhance your directing ability. In "Changing Directions" by Lenore DeKoven, She makes a great point that; "in order to viscerally understand thee actor's process I firmly believe that directors should experience some of the basic actor's training exercises". This for me was a little bit of an eye opener because I would've never thought that this would be necessary to direct someone. You usually think about directing as pointing the finger and telling someone what to do and thats it. But now it is clear to me that there is more to it than that. So by participating in actor's exercises I suppose that would allow the director to understand how an actor needs to process things, therefore heightening the various ways you can approach someone and give them useful directions. It may seem like extra effort but now I see that it is this extra effort that can make the biggest difference. For my future projects, if I have to work with actors I will definitely take more care in how I approach them in order to get the best work out of them.