Murder of the Director

Extract

Some artisan’s arguments— Rehearsals à l’italienne—The actor—Blocking—Necessary humility of set, music, lighting—Being able to summarize the play—Being able to detach oneself from it—Knowing each actor—Suggestion, not imposition.

The following notes concern only a particular technique of theatrical art, that of transposing a written work from the imaginary realm of reading to the concrete realm of the stage. To look for anything more than “means of interpretation” in these often deliberately cryptic lines would be vain.

When so many theories, ars poetica and metaphysics have been made up about this art, it is perhaps necessary that one advance, as a preliminary, a few artisan's considerations.

One can never read the play often enough. Actors never read it often enough. They think they understand the play when they follow the plot more or less clearly—a fundamental error.