I should not have to read the script before the performance of the play in order to understand the play. Of course, as a theatre expert, I often read a script prior to a performance because of my passion for understanding the playwright’s history, the style, the time period, etc., but it should not be necessary to read a script for the understanding of a play. A director’s job is to tell a story. Audience members should know who the characters are, their relationships, the location and the conflict. In our Maestro Workshops, we teach directors how to isolate the story in three different perspectives: 1. the playwright’s objective (what we call the super objective). 2. The theme objective (what we call coffee house). 3. The simple objective (What we call Joe the plumber). The Maestro strategies are a unique way of analyzing the script with the audience as the focus. These three perspectives provide the director with boundaries when making artistic choices.
I describe the three perspectives as directing three different shows simultaneously. As a director, I am always focused on, the playwright’s objective and propelling a main story line. The assumption is that a director knows what the main plot line is; or whose play it is. I secondly focus on themes and symbolism. The “coffee house” objective is difficult to direct but it is this knowledge that elevates plays from skit to art. My third focus is “Joe the plumber”, which directs the entertainment and spectacle in a show. This Maestro philosophy is complicated yet challenges directors to view a script in a more mature fashion.
I see many plays which are dazzling and artistic, but at the end of the performance, I often feel stupid and am embarrassed because I didn’t “get it.” I loved the images and effects and movement and pictures the director created, but where is the story? Once again: Who? (Characters and relationships), where? (Location), what? (conflict). If the audience is asking questions, the director has not achieved basic story telling. A director must know whose play it is. This is defined by which character has the opportunity to change and does change or chooses not to change. Directors often get distracted by a title role or who has the most lines, or which character is most interesting. These are all important things to consider, but do not always define whose play it is.
Theatrical effects, be they creative set designs, actors moving in expressionistic fashion, color lights, non-traditional costuming, etc., are wonderful and appropriate if they support the story and if they support what Maestro calls “the commanding image.” Spectacle or artistic weirdness for the sake of being weird is self-serving and masturbation on the stage. Themes and metaphors are often communicated via the set, costumes, movement. This understanding and method is best designed via the “coffee house” objective. English teachers at Maestro love this analysis.
Know that the audience cannot read the director’s mind. You may understand the artistic choices which you have directed and designed, but it is the director’s job to insure that the audience understands the work you have created. Don’t just stick in a special effect or a color light or a ladder for scenery because it is vogue and chic and you saw a successful production utilize it. The choice must fit your production. The third objective or “Joe the plumber” reminds the director that basic entertainment and spectacle complete a show. Humor, sex, violence, dance, visual eye candy are necessary. A skilled director analyzes this ingredient.
Yes it is ok to imitate or steal a creative idea or design concept, but a good director takes that idea and builds upon it, re-shapes it to fit his or her particular production. I have seen many shows where the production has no unity or consistency in design. The shows were entertaining and filled with much theatrical eye candy, but there was no cohesiveness to tie the effects together. A good critic will see beyond the gimmicks. A good director will include spectacle to support a story not merely for audience ecstasy.
I have begun using the phrase “audience friendly” when critiquing productions. Remember in school when your English teacher had you read a famous poem and it made no sense to you? A poem can have a beautiful phrase or a great use of imagery, but poems are often esoteric and vague and need to be studied. In theatre, a director wants the production to resonate with “poetry”, but once again, if the audience is lost and doesn’t understand the plot, then you have no play; you have great spectacle. Your show must be audience friendly.
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