A hands-on, step-by-step guide to directing plays--by one of Britain's leading theatre directors.

Intended for producers at student or amateur level. The first how-to book of its kind on the subject of producing.

The theatre director is one of the most critical roles in a successful drama company, yet there are no formal qualifications required for entry into this profession. This practical guide for emerging theatre directors answers all the key questions from the very beginning of your career to key stages as you establish your credentials and get professionally recognized. It analyzes the director's role through relationships with the actors, author, designer, production manager and creative teams and provides vital advice for "on-the-job" situations where professional experience is invaluable. The book also provides an overview of the many approaches to acting methodology without focusing on any in particular to allow the director to develop their own unique methods of working with any actor's style. Each chapter includes these key features: * Introduces important theories, identifies practitioners and provides key reading to provide an overview of historic and current practice. * Interviews with leading practitioners and emerging directors. * Suggested exercises to develop the director's own approach and practical skills.

Written by one of the UK’s most respected working directors, this book is a practical guide to directing in theatre and includes specific advice on every aspect of working with actors, designers, and the text.

This comprehensive guide, from the author of Acting in Musical Theatre, will equip aspiring directors with all of the skills that they will need in order to guide a production from beginning to end. From the very first conception and collaborations with crew and cast, through rehearsals and technical production all the way to the final performance, Joe Deer covers the full range. Deer’s accessible and compellingly practical approach uses proven, repeatable methods for addressing all aspects of a production. The focus at every stage is on working with others, using insights from experienced, successful directors to tackle common problems and devise solutions. Each section uses the same structure, to stimulate creative thinking: Timetables: detailed instructions on what to do and when, to provide a flexible organization template Prompts and Investigations: addressing conceptual questions about style, characterization and design Skills Workshops: Exercises and ‘how-to’ guides to essential skills Essential Forms and Formats: Including staging notation, script annotation and rehearsal checklists Case Studies: Well-known productions show how to apply each chapter’s ideas Directing in Musical Theatre not only provides all of the essential skills, but explains when and how to put them to use; how to think like a director.

Di Trevis is a world-renowned director, whose work with Britain’s National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and directing productions worldwide, has deeply informed her knowledge of the director’s craft. In Being a Director, she draws on a wealth of first-hand experience to present an immersive, engaging and vital insight into the role of a director. The book elegantly blends the personal and the pedagogical, illustrating how the parameters of Time, Space and Motion are essential when creating a successful production. Throughout, the author explores and recycles her own formative life experiences in order to demonstrate that who you are is as integral to being a director as what you do.

This is a book for the thinking actor, and the finest actors I've known are just that. The best actors bring it all together body, heart, spirit, and mind. This book is for the actor who thinks about craft and influence, who thinks about the relationship of performance to living, who thinks about doing and what that doing means. Acting is a metaphor and it's a mirror, and, so, a theory of acting, if true, shows us to ourselves. Jeff Zinn knows this. He knows it as an actor, director, teacher, and thinker. His theory of everything is simple and revelatory. (from the foreword by Todd London)