Directing A director must be arduous in research, meticulous in preparation, inventive in staging, and inspiring in communicating. Great directing structures the audience s experience to the utmost degree, but with the utmost care, sensitivity, and subtlety. The director s tools are the actors, the design, and skills of picturization, composition, movement, rhythm, and analysis. He must facilitate the creativity of all the artists involved in a production, and use directorial skills to allow the artists work its full life on stage. The tools needed by the director must be fully understood and practiced with care.
Research is challenging but rewarding work.
An understanding of the historical, socio-economic, political, and cultural background from which the material developed is crucial in order to fulfill the demands of the material. In this way the director may make informed choices not so as to reproduce past success, but to enrich and enliven the present production by building upon a foundation of knowledge. With this knowledge in hand, the director may then begin to effectively prepare for production. In The Open Door , Peter Brook says that he pre-blocks every production, but he is fully prepared to throw it all out when rehearsals begin. Although both of these men work in vastly different ways, they acknowledge that the director who is prepared will most likely succeed.