DIRECTING
THEORIES AND
TECHNIQUES
GROUP 5 SEMINAR PRESENTATION
DIRECTOR’S ROLE
The director orchestrates the performance in a theatre production such
as a play, opera e.t.c
A director simply put is responsible for interpreting a script and providing
guidance as a visionary for the piece. He is involved in most of the
planning and production staging, as well as casting, hiring and creating
schedules.
DIRECTING TECHNIQUES
• Script Analysis And Interpretation : It involves understanding the
themes, plot structure and playwright’s intent, uncovering the subtext
behind dialogue and action
• Working with Actors: This process involves more than just telling actors
what to do, it’s a collaborative process of exploration and discovery
between the actors and the director.
• Visual Composition And Staging: Creating a visual language that
compements the narrative and enhances the audience experience.
PLAY SELECTION
• It’s involves systematic evaluation of potential scripts, considering
several key factors.
• Practice considerations are also essential, including the availability of
resources, bidget constraints and the suitability of the play for the
ideal audience
• Legal and ethical considerations such as copyrights and potential
sensitivity with the community must be addressed
DIRECTORIAL CONCEPT
According to the Board of Studies, a directorial concept: ‘is based on the
director’s creative interpretation of the play’s text, themes, characters,
style, mood, structure and context elements of drama include tension,
focus, rhythm, space, movement, sound, time, symbol, mood, pace,
pause and atmosphere, role, actor and audience relationship’.
• In essence, the directorial concept or ‘vision’ is how the director
envisions the play.
WORKING WITH ACTORS
After casting is completed, the director works to mesh actors with their roles and the dramatic action to bring the script to life on the
stage
Konstantin Stanislavsky
To seek knowledge about human behaviour, Stanislavsky turned to science. He began experimenting in developing the first elements
of what came to be known as the Stanislavsky method/system (Sonia, 1984). Stanislavsky’s method/system proposed that a series of
physical actions arranged in sequential order, would trigger the necessary emotions in an actor’s performance.
He based this system on the concept of emotional memory, a means by which an actor looks into their own personal experiences to
give emotion and meaning to a character.
The Meisner Technique
In the 1930s, Sanford Meisner, an acting teacher and member of The Group Theater (which was founded in 1931 by Harold Clurman,
Cheryl Crawford, and Lee Strasberg), developed a new type of acting technique known as the ‘Meisner Technique’.
• The Meisner Technique is designed to be a comprehensive approach to acting that helps actors create believable behavior by
utilizing three fundamental components: the repetition exercise, independent activity, and emotional preparation.
DIRECTORIAL APPROACH
• There are as many approach to directing a play as there are directors, but the
three basic types of approach are;
• The literal Approach: The director serves the playwright here by transferring
everything from the page to stage without tampering with the playwright work.
• The translation Approach: The director in other to capture certain emotions or
ideas may deviate from the actual concept or theme of the playwright e.g
(Nikolai Okhlopkov 1900-1967 his production of Hamlet in 1954).
• The Auteur Approach: It places less emphasis on the script, using the script as
a raw material for a reproduction shaped into a more suitable purpose
DIRECTING TECHNIQUE STYLE
• Realist style
• Formalist style
• Auteur style
• Expressionist style: using sets, light and exaggerated action to covey
emotions
• Improvisation style: spontaneous performance
• Surrealist style: incorporates dream like, bizzare illogical element
• Action oriented style: fast paced editing, intense choreography.
BASIC BLOCKING EXCERISES
• Freeze tag
• Stage level changes
• X crossing excerise
• Follow the leader
• Entrance and exit drills
