In all truthfulness, I’m not a director. I’m a fraud.
I am a student, working within a group of people who are all round about the same age as myself and have the same, sometimes more, theatrical experience.
Simon McBurney, co-founder and Artistic Director of company Complicite, sums up his views perfectly when he explains that “I still think of myself principally as a player, a performer, and an actor; an actor who also directs” (Irvin, 2003, 75), and I think that is something that is particularly resonant with my view on the role. Thinking of the piece from the perspective of an actor isn’t particularly a bad trait to have, especially considering that “many directors have surprisingly little knowledge of the various way actors work and of the most constructive way to communicate with them” (Bloom, 2001, 119).
As Peter Brook, English theatre and film director states in a video interview regarding his rehearsal process, (see video 1) “I believe in throwing all the junk possible into the pot, and then filtering it” (The Guardian, 2013). I recently researched into all of the separate skills obtained by the company in the hope that, in true Peter Brook fashion, rehearsals can then consist of an amalgamation of different techniques and approaches.
Video 1 – Interview with Peter Brook. (The Guardian, 2013)
I am excited to be working with such a diverse and talented group of performers. For now, we are concentrating on gathering as many primary resources, mainly photographs and paintings, as possible in order to influence and kick start the creative process properly.
I may have the title of ‘Director’, but really that just means I shift and shape the work that everyone in the company creates together!
Works Cited
Bloom, M. (2001) Thinking Like a Director. New York: Faber and Faber Inc.
Irvin, P. (2000) Directing for the Stage. Switzerland: Rotovision.
The Guardian (2013) An Interview with theatre director Peter Brook [online video] Available from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx2qHHFS5Yk [Accessed 18 February 2015].