Theatre-Making & Processes
Directing
Category
Directors aim to find a dramaturgical and rhythmical shape to their work to cultivate focussed performers and a sense of shared purpose among the company, and to build a staging consistent with this.
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Peter Hall on Greek theatre and his own mask practice. He discusses his theories of Greek drama, including the use of the Chorus, Phallus, and the nature of tragedy and comedy.
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Peter Hall discusses the West End theatre of the 1950s, antipathy towards the RSC coming to London to perform, and the staging of the first English production of Waiting for Godot and its aftermath.
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William Gaskill interviewed by Michael Billington. Gaskill discusses his theatre-going during the war, his experiences at Oxford University, and his work with the Royal Court and National Theatre.
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In which Prof. Smeliansky outlines the importance of Stanislavsky’s work in the history of Russian theatre, including Stanislavsky’s relation to Chekhov, Gordon Craig, Meyerhold and others.
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This film covers basic acrobatics.
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This film covers basic acrobatics using furniture and objects.
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This film covers an interview with Andrei Droznin.
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This film covers locomotion techniques.
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This film covers partner work.
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This film covers preparation and stretches for physical activity.
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A film following the street performance Anabasis in Peru. It was an itinerant performance, based on exploiting the connections between the actors and the spectators who they encounter on their way.
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Pearson takes a group of practitioners through the many exercises that formed the central concerns of Brith Gof. These include physical training, spatial and temporal awareness and group choreography.
Video
CoNCrEte (2009)
screendance reveals
how the environment affects our emotions and ever-changing lived
experience.
Video
This video is documentation taken from a weekly contact jam session with the
actors in the MFA Actor-Training program at UC Irvine. Contact Improvisation is
a large part of the movement arc in the first year of actor training, and jam
sessions are held weekly, integrating all three years of MFA actors.
Someone happened to video this session, and I give a brief description of
our use of contact as a tool for actor training in the
voice-over.
Video
This video is documentation of an exercise with 3rd year graduate actors at
the UC Irvine Actor-Training program, speaking a monologue while contacting with
a silent partner. At a moment of heightened activity, the silent
partner is removed, and the resulting delivery of the monologue is focused and
intensely communicated.
The athleticism and sensitivity of the contact created a culture of
expressivity. Tenderness as well as rage and challenge emerged in the contact
session and remained present in the solo monologue. So, the complexities of
emotion that were embodied metaphorically and rhythmically in the extreme lifts
and rolls and balances of the partnering could be seen as an emotional
“rehearsal” for the solo performance. But once the partner was removed, the
speaker had to reach out to us, and address each deeply felt idea to the
audience in the room.
No longer in a contact with the literal “other,” we, the audience, now become
the necessary focus.
Video
George Rodosthenous Interviews theatre designer Madeleine Girling and discusses different design approaches to musical theatre.
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George Rodosthenous Interviews theatre director Michael Fentiman and discusses different directorial approaches to musical theatre.
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Lars Romann Engel, artistic director of “HamletScenen,” in conversation with
Dr. Anne Sophie Refskou, lecturer at University of Surrey, describes his process
of working on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He analyzes the process of working with the
text and understanding the context of the play and its significance today. The
interview took place in Elsinore, Denmark, in August 2017.
Video
This video features snapshots from two different directing workshops conducted
in October 2017 with two groups of directing students at RESAD (Real Escuela
Superior de Arte Dramático de Madrid) in Madrid, Spain. The workshops
focused on strategies of recontextualization of classical works and of
determining directorial point-of-view.
Video
Vanessa Christodoulou talks about her experience of being taught directing
in a distance-learning context. She shares audiovisual material taken from her
directing work, which was produced especially for class projects.
Video
This video workshop, which took place in Athens in July 2017, is the
result of a process of working on possible ideas for set design for Henrik Ibsen’s
The Lady from the Sea. Athena Stourna shares her intuitions in front of
a model she built for the purposes of this book, shedding light on fundamental
questions that permeate the director-scenographer
collaboration.
Video
In this video presentation, Avra discusses her book and some fundamental
principles that permeate the directing art.
Video
This video is from a workshop which brought together performer Miranda
Manasiadis and choreographer Malia Johnston. The workshop took place at Footnote
Dance and Deirdre Tarrant Studios.
Video
John Collins, award-winning artistic director of ERS, shares his ideas on
directing, working with an ensemble, adapting the classics, and developing a
directorial style.
Video
In this master class video, New York-based lighting
designerMaria Cristina Fusté discusses in detail her process of
lighting a theatre production, and the different stages involved
therein.
Video
Walking Gusto Productions
explores the marginalised and disempowered female voices of South Africa by
using the body as a “site of resistance”
Video
Back to Back Theatre creates new forms of contemporary performance imagined
from the minds and experiences of a unique ensemble of actors with disabilities,
giving voice to social and political issues that speak to all people.
Based in the regional centre of Geelong, the company is one of Australia’s
most globally recognised and respected contemporary theatre companies. Seeking
to make a body of work that exists in repertoire across time, the company tours
extensively locally, nationally, and internationally.
Video
Since 1981, I have been conducting research on black women behind the scenes in the
American theatre. As a black female lighting designer, I am aware of our
invisibility within the larger American theatre and have made an effort to expose
these women to a wider audience. I have interviewed numerous black women who have
made significant contributions to the American theatre. These women include
designers, producers, directors, playwrights, artistic directors, and other
individuals working behind the scenes. This is a rare interview I conducted with
Glenda Dickerson (1945-2012) during a rehearsal of her adaptation of The Trojan
Women, performed with an all-black cast during January 1983. This interview
is very dear to me as Dickerson was a mentor. I followed her career with various
interviews, tapings at conferences, and the publication of one of her plays. Glenda
Dickerson was a director, folklorist, actress, adapter/conceiver, and educator. With
a career of nearly 40 years she was known for her unique adaptations of Greek
classics, African American folktales, the feminist theatre approach, and ensemble
work. She was the second black woman to direct on Broadway with the 1980 musical
Reggae. Her work has also been presented nationally and
internationally. In the commercial arena she was constantly presented with racial
and gender challenges. After working in mainstream theatre for many years, Dickerson
chose to focus her talents on educational and community-oriented theatre. She also
began to concentrate on feminist/womanist theatre. She taught at Howard University,
Spelman, Rutgers, and the University of Michigan. Only in recent years is her work
finally gaining recognition, but as with many other black women, Dickerson’s
contributions are largely unknown.
Video
A workshop concentrating on the structured approach that is the basis of ImageWork training, leading the participants from simple forms of improvised physical expression to complex forms.
Video
Zarrilli’s Psychophysical Acting methodology focuses on the relationship between the actor-as-doer and what the actor does. It (re)examines in practice and theory a psychophysical approach to acting.
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This interview sees Jean Benedetti discussing some of the main precepts of Stanislavsky’s work, including Stanislavsky’s relation to Chekhov, Shchepkin, Meyerhold and others.
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The third episode of After My Life in Art, originally broadcast by The Culture Channel, Russia
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The fourth episode of After My Life in Art, originally broadcast by The Culture Channel, Russia
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The fifth episode of After My Life in Art, originally broadcast by The Culture Channel, Russia
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Lisa Mayo: Between the Layers is an interview reflecting on the training, accomplishments, experiences, and the life of Lisa Mayo.
Video
A film about Michael Chekhov. Part one covers his early years, family, upbringing, drama school and the beginning of his acting career at the Moscow Art Theatre.
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In this demonstration-performance, Odin Teatret’s Iben Nagel Rasmussen shows and explains her working practice, from her training methods through to performance.
Video
This video is an introduction to the company of Anthony Neilson’s Royal
Court show Narrative in 2013: Anthony Neilson; Zawe Ashton; Imogen Doel;
Brian Doherty; Christine Entwisle; Barney Power; Olly Rix and Sophie
Ross.
Video
This video provides a window into other aspects of Neilson’s authorial
propensities via a snapshot of rehearsal room discussion concerning what to name the
characters in the show.
Video
This video shows how Neilson authors and develops his script in the moment
during rehearsals. This process occurs as actors Barney Power and Zawe Ashton work
on a scene where Power’s character is humiliated while attending an advert audition
conducted by Ashton’s maliciously bored character.
Video
This video clip shows actor Zawe Ashton employing the Affective Memory
rehearsal technique while running a scene with actor Olly Rix.
Video
This video features Neilson and actors Zawe Ashton and Christine
Entwisle’s work on developing a newly-written scene in which Ashton’s character
attends an unconventional counselling appointment. It contains excerpts of
discussion, as well as a full-length improvisation where Ashton’s head is masked by
a cardboard box.
Video
This video is the first time the company run the improvisation concerning
the arbitrary items found in the rehearsal space.
Video
In this video actors Christine Entwisle and Zawe Ashton discuss the Box
Therapy improvisation.
Video
In this video Anthony Neilson, Christine Entwisle and Zawe Ashton finalise
the performance of the therapy session during the technical rehearsal in the Jerwood
Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court.
Video
Anthony Neilson and Brian Doherty talk about Neilson’s use of
improvisation in his rehearsal process in this video.
Video
In this video the whole company conduct an improvisation run by music and
sound designer Nick Powell. During the improvisation the participants attempt to
create a multi-layered vocal score by splicing together various random sounds
articulated by individual company members.
Video
Anthony Neilson, Brian Doherty and Christine Entwisle discuss features of
Neilson’s methodology as a director.
Video
This video shows the similarities between the beginning and the end of
Narrative.
Video
This video contains rehearsal room footage of the company discussing the
idea of having some kind of audience participation as the ending to
Narrative. Then the video moves to the technical rehearsal in the
Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court, where Neilson directs a different way
of concluding the show.
Video
In this video Anthony Neilson, Imogen Doel and Sophie Ross discuss the
interaction between the actor’s process and Neilson’s directorial/authorial
approach.
Video
In this video the assistant director of Narrative, Ned Bennett,
and actors Brian Doherty, Zawe Ashton, Sophie Ross, Barney Power and Olly Rix,
discuss the effects of being filmed while rehearsing the show. Then the video moves
into the rehearsal room, where Rix is running a scene from the play.
Video
In this video the Narrative company have come to the end of the
rehearsal period. Here Neilson discusses with the cast how the following week-long
technical rehearsal will be conducted and attempts to allay any concerns they may
have about the forthcoming opening and subsequent run of the show.
Video
This video contains footage of the note session before Press Night where
Neilson introduces an entirely new scene to be performed by actors Imogen Doel and
Zawe Ashton that evening. The video then shows the only rehearsal of the scene
before the performance.
Video
In this video actress Christine Entwisle talks about her experience of
being filmed rehearsing her role in Narrative. The video then shows the
impact Entwisle discusses, during the technical rehearsal in the Jerwood Theatre
Upstairs at the Royal Court.
Video
Anthony Neilson considers how actors can influence the authorship of his
work in this video. Then the video moves to the rehearsal room where the
Narrative company throw various ideas around concerning how one of the
characters being out of sync with reality can be theatrically rendered.
Video
This is a video of the Narrative company’s second discussion and
running of an improvisation using some chance items found in the rehearsal
room.
Video
In this video the company and music and sound designer, Nick Powell,
continue to explore the ways in which the character being out of sync with reality
can be theatrically rendered. The footage then proceeds to show how this idea is
audio-visually represented for the on-stage performance.
Video
In this video Anthony Neilson, assistant director Ned Bennett and the
actors Imogen Doel, Sophie Ross, Barney Power and Christine Entwisle, reflect on the
tangential properties of Neilson’s authorial process.
Video
This video shows the authorial input of actor Olly Rix, as he works on a
speech in the rehearsal room and then during the technical rehearsal at the Jerwood
Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court.
Video
Anthony Neilson and actors Olly Rix, Brian Doherty and Imogen Doel give
their views on the connection between the actor and Neilson’s authorship in this
video.
Video
Actors Georgia Nicholson, Sabrina Richmond, Rebecca Yeo, and Laura Evelyn
are interviewed about the characters they played in the anthology plays.
Video
A public domain
theatre show,
part voyeuristic meditation, part urban
thriller, it unfolds amidst the high volume
pedestrian traffic of a public
space.
Video
The Stanislavski Centre Annual Lecture sees a major international figure lecturing based upon their own expertise in the field of Stanislavsky studies every year – in this case, Anatoly Smeliansky.
Video
Sistren Theatre Collective concerns itself with women sugar cane workers in and around Hayes Newton "New Sugar Town," Clarendon, Jamaica. After interviewing the women in the fields, the group analyses its findings on conditions in the sugar belt and the scenario for a play emerges. Their performances speak directly to the daily experiences of women -- the least empowered workers, who labour long hours for low wages with no benefits or rights to organize for better conditions. Using role-play and interviews with female cane workers, the collective develops dramatizations which analyze social issues and pinpoint their concerns.
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An explanation of how performances are created at Odin Teatret. It describes the stages in the work, presenting the different phases of the process in which text, actor and director interact.
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A performance that describes the vicissitudes of the voice of an actor and the stratagems she invents to ‘interpret’ a text. In theatre, actors need to create a labyrinth of rules to follow or refuse.
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A performance-demonstration about the difference between theatre and dance. European culture suffers from the division between theatre and dance. They are, in fact, a single world.
Video
Bella Merlin’s practical presentation uses Stanislavsky’s Six Fundamental Questions to contextualise a demonstration of ‘practice as research’ riffing off his work, as well as Maria Knebel’s.
Audio
An interview lasting almost two hours, covering the extraordinary breadth of Mike Alfreds’s experience as a theatre director working across different decades, cultures and continents.
Commentary
by Suzette Coon
Introduction for Short Plays with Great Roles for Women written by Suzette
Coon.
Commentary
by Annie Loui
Contact improvisation is a form of dance improvisation based on energy and weight
exchange, incorporating elements of aikido, jitterbugging, child’s play, and
tumbling
Commentary
by Maria Shevtsova
Analysis of Dodin's as influenced by Chekhov and growing uncertainty of early 20th century Russian society.
Commentary
by Avra Sidiropoulou
Directions for Directing: Theatre and Method lays out contemporary concepts of directing practice and examines specific techniques of approaching scripts, actors, and the stage. Addressed to both young and experienced directors but also to the broader community of theatre practitioners, scholars, and dedicated theatre goers, the book sheds light on the director’s multiplicity of roles throughout the life of a play — from the moment of its conception to opening night — and explores the director’s processes of inspiration, interpretation, communication, and leadership. From organizing auditions and making casting choices to decoding complex dramaturgical texts and motivating actors, Directions for Directing offers practical advice and features detailed Workbook sections on how to navigate such a fascinating discipline. A companion website explores the work of international practitioners of different backgrounds who operate within various institutions, companies, and budgets, providing readers with a wide range of perspectives and methodologies.
Commentary
by Calvert, Dave
Reflections on Ganesh versus the Third Reich by Dave Calvert discusses the
work created by back to back.
Commentary
by Calvert, Dave
Reflections on small metal objects by back to back.
Commentary
by Maria Shevtsova
An examination of the five complex novels behind Dodin's ‘theatre of prose’.
Practitioner
Mike Alfreds is a director who has run companies in the US, Israel and the UK – including Shared Experience, which he founded in 1975 – and worked at theatres including the National and the RSC.
Practitioner
William Gaskill studied alongside Tony Richardson and Kenneth Tynan. Influenced by Paris and Berlin, he developed a spartan aesthetic, directing influential work at the Royal Court and the National.
Related Items
Practitioner
Niamh Dowling is Head of Performance at Rose Bruford. She has trained with Monika Pagneux and Anne Bogart, collaborated with Teatr Piesn Kozla, and worked internationally as a Movement Director.
