Role of the director – rehearsal notes

Charlotte Meek

The role of the director is a very important one, the director is responsible for the vision of the play and putting together the play as a whole. In WAKEUP theatre i was given the role of the director which meant that i had the responsibility to work closely with the team to decide the type of play we wanted to put on, how we were going to stage it and portray my vision for the piece onto the stage.

‘Typical activities include:

  • programming and budgeting;
  • working with writers through workshops or script development schemes;
  • adapting a script and, if the play is newly written, working with the writer or collaborating with playwrights;
  • breaking down a script, analyzing and exploring the content and conducting relevant research;
  • translating and interpreting a script or musical score;
  • conducting auditions for productions, selecting and hiring designers, musicians, etc.;
  • managing time and organizing people and space;
  • attending production meetings with set designers;
  • conducting rehearsals;
  • communicating and liaising with all parties involved, including actors, the creative team, the production team and producers;
  • attending preview performances and preparing detailed notes for the cast and creative and production teams;
  • helping to publicise the production by giving interviews and leading discussions.’ (AGCAS 2011)

 

I felt that as the company director i must come to every rehearsal with dated notes and an agenda to ensure that rehearsal time was used efficiently, an example of these notes are as follows:

130,000 – 10/5/13

– Yesterday was great to see scenes really come together
– Well done on lines, the majority were much better
– Please keep going over lines
– Marketing, do we have flyers out yet? Ticket sales are at 27, what could we do to boost sales?
– Today i want to go over all group scenes, make them much bigger.
– I want to work on transitions, moving set (who will move what)
– We will go over each scene as follows: Line run, then action, notes, repeat
– Performance is in 10 days!! Commitment and energy is key!

Before every rehearsal notes were given about what we were going to do and address any issues that may have come to the surface before rehearsals begin.

 

Works Cited:

AGCAS 2011, Online: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/theatre_director_job_description.htm, Accessed: 20/05/2013.