The Directors Craft: A Handbook for the Theatre

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It provides detailed assistance with each aspect of the varied challenges facing all theatre directors, and does so with startling clarity. It will inspire everyone, from the beginner just starting out to the experienced practitioner looking to reinvigorate their practice. Katie Mitchell shares and explains the key practical tools she uses to approach her work with both actors, production teams, and the text itself.

She addresses topics such as: Each chapter concludes with a summary of its critical points, making this an ideal reference work for both directors and actors at any stage of their development. Product details Format Paperback pages Dimensions x x People who bought this also bought. A Director Prepares Anne Bogart. Different Every Night Mike Alfreds. A Sense of Direction William Ball. Notes on Directing Frank Hauser.

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The Director's Craft : Katie Mitchell :

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It is Katie Mitchell's honesty about work she has directed of lesser success that is particularly refreshing as the reader is encouraged to reclaim their own mistakes in the same way the author has done and put the experience to good use on the next job. Necessary reading for all would-be directors! Aug 13, Daniel rated it it was amazing Shelves: Prudent, practical, clearly written and inspiring. A very thorough and precise explanation of the director's process.

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Great information on script analysis and some interesting ideas and suggestions on approaching rehearsals with actors. Some things I definitely want to explore the next time I direct a show. Dec 06, Mo rated it it was amazing. Dec 02, Eliot Fiend rated it really liked it Shelves: Nov 08, Amaranthos rated it it was amazing Shelves: Aug 19, Ana rated it it was ok. During my MA I took a directing module and noticed I didn't actually know a lot of theory about it.

My classmates and teachers spoke a lot about this Katie Mitchell book, since she is one of the most important contemporary British directors. She studied the same MA I was studying so I thought it might be a good place to start having more directing theory as I thought we might have some common ground due to our studies. Well, don't take me wrong.

I am going to write something that During my MA I took a directing module and noticed I didn't actually know a lot of theory about it. I am going to write something that might make you hate me if you do theatre, but such is life. I don't like Stanislavsky. Well, I do like him, but I like the late Stanislavsky; the one who realized he had made a mistake with his first method, revised it and started proposing exercises based on actions, knowing he had a lot left to explore and discover.

Then, what particularly bothers me, is not Stanislavsky per se, but the people who learnt his teachings without acquiring his need to continue exploring and experimenting with acting, and so they went and established a school where, according to them, they teach a "method".

You know, cause there is a universal formula for acting that is valid and useful in absolutely every situation. Well, Katie Mitchell's book is like the people who did "The Method" based on Stanislavsky's teachings. The Director's Craft is a director's manual, giving you a series of steps and assuming these steps are useful in absolutely every situation. It explains how you should analyze the text before starting rehearsals, how to stage the text, how you should treat the actors and the creatives I do not believe in methods nor in universal truths, even less so for something as changing and human as theatre, but I respect people can think whatever they want; so Katie Mitchell's attempt to create a method would maybe not bother me so much, except for the fact that so many times when she is giving "advice" she does it with this condescending and pretentious tone that I was told that she wrote this book early on in her career, when she thought like young Stanislavsky did that there could be a universal formula for directing; that later she realized her mistake and began making more explorations and changing her way of working.

I think this is very good, but where is the revision of the book that says that? I think it is worrying that in a way it is written for students - for people who maybe are already theatre professionals but are just starting and could use the wise advice of someone more experienced - but if you speak to them so condescendingly, I wonder if those who consider this book a sort of bible notice that there is so much more.

And well, I know from experience that many directors nowadays do follow the directing practices mentioned in this book, and that they work. But just because something works does it mean there is nothing more? As you can tell, I didn't like it.

The Director's Craft : A Handbook for the Theatre

I think having this sort of attitude towards things "this is the way it must be done" is what limits their development. But I mean, if you want to know about how the majority of directors do things, you should read it. Me, I'll be looking for alternative ways of directing, and alternative books on directing.

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Clear and linear description of the process the author uses and ways in which it can be applied to different situations. I will definitely be using it as a touchstone for future projects, not least because after each section within each chapter, there is a summary of the key points; having read it once, the key points are easily located and present reminders of the finer points of the process. John Flynn rated it liked it Aug 03, Tatiana Shakespeare rated it really liked it Jul 20, Z Bloom rated it really liked it Aug 30, Hilary rated it really liked it Aug 20, Alexander Mancuso rated it it was amazing Dec 06, Elizabeth rated it it was amazing May 12, Matthew Xia rated it it was amazing Sep 01, Faye Burrows rated it it was ok Dec 26, Daniel rated it it was amazing Nov 01,

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