The Director.

"Ultimately, theatre needs three elements: actors, play, and audience. But for theatre to actualize its potential, a person would need to impose his or her point of view that would penetrate all aspects of the production. That person is the director. A director is needed for any situation, whether it's a staged reading to a congregation, a reader's theatre performance at reunion, or a full theatre production. A director is not only in charge of all aspects of production, as an artist he or she has a vision that ties all performance elements together." - Debra Bruch

Description
This week started with four performances from a group called "Lila, teatro y poesía". It made us reflect about the director's role and importance is theatre. On the other hand, the PPP [based on Paucartambo] also remarks this importance, and the process that a director has to go through in order to create a play.

Analysis

Theatre started being considered part of literature, but nowadays, it is not about the WHAT (e.g. script) but about HOW a script or theme is presented on a stage.
The Director's role is to develop a different way to perform a play, by establishing the concept (giving coherence to everything happening), and a game that relates the play to the audience: asking what will the spectators think, and  how will they feel connected to the play?

Although it was a new experience to see poems being performed, we concluded that the main problem was a lack of direction concept. You can put many actions on stage, and it may "look nice", but if everything on stage doesn't have coherence, the audience will probably feel something is missing.
Apart from the design and acting concepts, the director also needs to make sure that the play has a rythm, is dynamic, and the actors aren't being monotone (e.g. with their voices, actions, body and face expression).

At the same time, the PPP teaches us that the director's vision and process is essential to develop a play. As we've been learning the whole year, Theatre is made by processes. It hasn't been and cannot be created from one day to another, and it is the directors role to find an stimulus, carry all the research involved, create a vision, a concept, a game, and an innovative way to stage his own or an already written play on stage.
Connections

• A play can be performed in MANY different ways if they are directed by different people or styles. For example, Shakespeare's play Richard III was originally written to be performed in Elizabethan style, but later was chosen by many German directors to perform it with expressionist elements (stage, acting, costumes, etc)

1919-1920- German setting for Leopold Jessner's production of Richard III, Berlin State Theater.

• In German expressionism, directors often felt disillusioned with reality and the world around them, and their version of the plays portrayed this: One of the handouts we read for Paucartambo said that even though an artist doesn't want to include aspects of his/her life in his/her work, he/se will unconsciously do it.
  For this reason, every version of a play is different, as every director has different things to say.

Reflections

• Characters in a play always need to lack/be looking for something
• Experience teaches, and as in many aspects in life, is fundamental to create wise directors
• Is it recommendable for directors not to be actors at the same time? It isn't the same to watch a play being inside/ part of it (acting), and with the audience's eyes. On the other hand, the director's role is ESSENTIAL. Therefore, he/she needs to be focused on it (and not taking other roles)
• Let's say a play does not have a director: Is there always a director even if he/she is not 'credited"? Even if the actors are convinced that they are all equal in power and weight on a given stage is there always one person who if the show is being rehearsed is directing?
• Is the person who gives the main action in an improvisation the Director? (he/she gives a direction to the action by starting it) 

Directing Theatre

by Debra Bruch:  http://www.danillitphil.com/base.html