On Directorship
Being a director means that you have to get inside the head of every character in the play, and then transfer the contents of that head to the actor or actress sitting in front of you, in a way that they can fuse it to themselves.
Sounds easy, don't it?
I have a cast of 30 people on my hands, and for the majority of them I have exactly 30 minutes of one-on-one time in which to establish a mind-meld between person and character. This results in my having to say some very weird things.
To Mr. Collins: "Well, no, it's sort of like.... Austen emphasizes how he's 'weak in the head,' so you need to be the kind of guy who rolls out of bed and wears his pyjamas all day on a corporate casual dress code campus... but I don't want you to be the guy who gets out of bed and intentionally puts on a vampire suit. And the audience in your head is always responding perfectly to what you mean... it's just that the audience in front of you never does. You're outta touch with reality."
To Mr. Darcy: "You've got all kinds of moons. Miss Bingley is a moon, for example. Jupiter had nine moons! But what you need in your life is another planet. And that's what Lizzy is. So you don't want to draw her into your orbit, exactly... you just want to combine planets."
Etc. And then there are, of course, the directions I give to people when we're running scenes (as opposed to mind-melding sessions):
To Lizzy, in a Darcy/Lizzy scene: "No, no, no! Don't smile! You hate him! He's ruining your evening!"
To Bingley, because he's taken to burbling at me whenever we meet: "Andrew, I said bubbly. I did not say 'falsetto.'"
Also to Bingley: "You don't have a rainbow wig? Well, okay, then the red plaid pyjama pants sound fine. Yes, and the pink silk bowtie and dress shirt and blazer and whatever else. Shoot, I won't have to look at you---I'm not going to be at that rehearsal. So go ahead. Do whatever you have to, but I want you to be over the top. Then we can worry about inching you back down. Okay?"
Sounds easy, don't it?
I have a cast of 30 people on my hands, and for the majority of them I have exactly 30 minutes of one-on-one time in which to establish a mind-meld between person and character. This results in my having to say some very weird things.
To Mr. Collins: "Well, no, it's sort of like.... Austen emphasizes how he's 'weak in the head,' so you need to be the kind of guy who rolls out of bed and wears his pyjamas all day on a corporate casual dress code campus... but I don't want you to be the guy who gets out of bed and intentionally puts on a vampire suit. And the audience in your head is always responding perfectly to what you mean... it's just that the audience in front of you never does. You're outta touch with reality."
To Mr. Darcy: "You've got all kinds of moons. Miss Bingley is a moon, for example. Jupiter had nine moons! But what you need in your life is another planet. And that's what Lizzy is. So you don't want to draw her into your orbit, exactly... you just want to combine planets."
Etc. And then there are, of course, the directions I give to people when we're running scenes (as opposed to mind-melding sessions):
To Lizzy, in a Darcy/Lizzy scene: "No, no, no! Don't smile! You hate him! He's ruining your evening!"
To Bingley, because he's taken to burbling at me whenever we meet: "Andrew, I said bubbly. I did not say 'falsetto.'"
Also to Bingley: "You don't have a rainbow wig? Well, okay, then the red plaid pyjama pants sound fine. Yes, and the pink silk bowtie and dress shirt and blazer and whatever else. Shoot, I won't have to look at you---I'm not going to be at that rehearsal. So go ahead. Do whatever you have to, but I want you to be over the top. Then we can worry about inching you back down. Okay?"
posted by Praelucor at 5:12 PM
4 Comments:
But you're not a director, are you? I thought that was Lisa and Ben.
Sounds like fun! Though I have no doubt that some of them can figure out their characters on their own. :) :)
Oh no, I'm not a director. But the kind of coaching I do for Ben and Lisa is directorial in nature---it's not set or costumes or lights. It's directing them about their characters. :-)
And yes, they usually can figure out their own characters to a certain extent, depending on their own intuition, interest, and ability to be insightful. My job is to make sure that their idea of their character lines up with Ben and Lisa's idea, and, most of all, Jane Austen's idea. :-)
That does sound like a neat job. Heehee. I wish I could watch the play when y'all are done with it. :P Oh well.
So you're the perpetrator responsible for Mr. Bingley's running shorts, t-shirt, tweed blazer, pink and black polka-dotted bowtie, and orange. It caused Jane great distress.
(But I thoroughly enjoyed it.)
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