[audiobook] Directing Shakespeare in America: Current Practices by Charles Ney at Arts-Photography

Review

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. MediocreBy tambascotTL;DR version: this book is better for the non-practicing academic than the working director.I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand. the majority of the interviews are stimulating and insightful. but on the other. there is a lack of an editorial through line. so the separate interviews. loosely gathered around different aspects of the directing process. feel like a cacophony of voices trying to simultaneously sing different songs.And Ney has left some potentially interesting points unanswered: for example. Kate Buckley says "I have five research books ndash; play analysis. criticism. text analysis. character analysis and inspiration images. These research books live in the rehearsal hall. Anybody who would like to learn where the ideas for production came from can study them." but Ney fails to ask which books. and why those books in particular. This sort of failure to inquire after specifics is not uncommon.Someone with little to no practical directing experience is more likely to find this book wholly useful than a more experienced director. but there are interesting philosophical and practical notes in here for everyone. if youre willing to dig for them. But the editorial practice keeps these from being more than sound bites; the through line of any one director is difficult to follow.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Directing philosophy. arranged topically. from top Shakespeare directors in AmericaBy Gentle ReaderDirecting Shakespeare in America/Current Practices is a collection. organized topically. of directing philosophy distilled from interviews in which 62 (if I counted correctly) directors of Shakespeare. many notable. many at the countrys leading Shakespeare theatres. and all at the top of their game. disclose to the author their many issues. concerns. and approaches.During the decade in which these interviews took place. the author kept in contact with the directors. gave them the opportunity to read the transcripts and clarify points if necessary and provide updates when their thinking had evolved.Shaping the resulting 1.000 single-spaced typed pages of transcripts into a book in which the collection of wisdom is distilled down and organized by the author into topical categories. rather than merely giving us the full linear transcripts of the interviews. multiplies its usefulness exponentially by the convenience this format gives directors (and actors. dramaturges. and designers) to compare. contrast. and leverage directors beliefs and insights.We learn how some directors begin their preparation by doing extensive research into the production history of the play and various interpretations. and read critical thinking thats been written about the play. But one director warns against getting stuck in the "swamp of information" of the thousands of pages of information available. Others may prefer to avoid studying whats been done before or written about the play. so as to develop their own unfiltered understanding of the text. For them. a personal experience with just the words is what matters. Some directors begin preparation by reading the play repeatedly. again. and again. and again. aloud. and commit it to memory. They spend time with every word. and contemplate "Why Shakespeare did choose this one specific word instead of another word?rdquo; And through repeated readings. things start to resonate; the words start to reveal the meaning of the story and what must be inside the heads of the characters.The approach for preparing a text is discussed. Depending on the goals. for example. if this is to be an original practices performance. the First Folio might be the basis of the text. Other times. a modern edition that replaces archaic words might be used. From the text that is chosen. changes may be made such as transposing scenes. and cuts made with modern attention spans in mind.We are reminded we should not make the text. or the duty of reading every line of it. too sacred. We have no way of knowing what Shakespeare actually performed. The First Folio. which was published by Shakespeares friends after his death. is inconsistent with the earlier quartos that were published while Shakespeare was alive. I believe Shakespeare most certainly would have improved the text of his plays over time. in the same way a composer such as Igor Stravinsky made numerous revisions to his Rite of Spring throughout his life. And it is believed there may have been a long edition to Shakespeares plays. and from that longer text performers would make cuts and perform a shorter text for the actual performance based on their preferences.Shakespeare makes it easy to experiment: You can exchange AK-47s for swords and CEO suits for crowns. I suppose the popularity of modern dress adaptations could be tied to the success of Orson Wells and the Mercury Theatres 1937 adaption of Julius Caesar. set with fascist uniforms. brick walls painted red. and vertical lighting evocative of the Nuremburg rallies. That concept worked: When Cinna the Poet dies. not at the hands of a mob. but by the brutality of the secret police. the scene moved the audience so that the acting stopped during three minutes of thunderous applause.As I read that some directors try to recreate what they saw another director do that worked. I remembered the maxim that good artists borrow; but great artists steal!Others directors take the opposite approach. trying hard to be original. But with that comes the risk of drawing attention to your clever concept and away from Shakespeare and the poetry. While trying to be original and daring. the concern has to be: Will the audience see your great imagery or great idea. but not necessarily feel what the characters are feeling? Might they consider your original concept as a gimmick?But simply picking a time and a place to set it in is boring. says one director. unless the setting actually reveals something about the story. You can make it about todays news. but there is danger: Its become trite. The play. not a concept. needs to be the starting point. Making it focus on whats happening now risks making Shakespeare small by taking away the universality of its big message. Another director believes you can go the other direction and refuse to make it about todays news. but that might not work either. because a story engages an audience best when it is about us.Peter Brooks innovative staging of Midsummer Nights Dream in the early 70s was a watershed moment for many of these directors. Brooks rejected traditional ideas about the staging of classic drama. All the action took place in a large white box that was open to the audience. The costumes were a quirky mixture of elements from different times and places. At the close. upon the line in Pucks speech "Give me your hands. if we be friends". the cast rushed into the auditorium to shake hands with the audience. It profoundly changed everyones thinking about how to do Shakespeare. and opened the door to much greater experimentation. What the New York Times wrote has so far proven true: "Once in a very rare while. a theatrical production arrives that is going to be talked about as long as there is a theater."There are social issues to be addressed: We live in a world where the views are not the same as in Shakespeares day. How do you make Kates speech at the end of Taming of the Shrew acceptable for modern audiences? How are you going to present the anti-Semitism of The Merchant of Venice?Multi-racial casting. which has been done for years. and which really shouldnt be an issue by now. is addressed. Casting choices that obviously try too hard to show an ideal world where race or gender doesnt matter can. as one director explained. have the unfortunate result of being seen as pushing a social message targeted specifically to white people.There are cultural aspects to consider: Audiences across the country. perhaps for cultural reasons. often react differently. Some regions respond to the language. the characters. and the story; other regions are more visual. care less about the language. and respond more to the action.In Shakespeares day. the audience would say "Im going to hear a play." A lot of Shakespeare is about rhythm. One director believes if the actor doesnt have a sense of scansion. its something that cant be taught in rehearsal. and the actor will not be cast for the part.Table work. done by almost all directors. is where early in the rehearsals the director and cast sit while discussing and scrutinizing the text. Scansion. punctuation. the sound of the language. the alliteration and assonance and rhyme. the meaning of the words. all of these are discussed. going word-by-word through the text.Rehearsal technique is discussed in great detail. One technique is writing notes to the actors. "I dont believe you" can be a useful note to give says one director.We learn how to handle difficult passages. There is the passage in Henry V where three members of the kings entourage are discovered to be traitors who have sold themselves for bribes. Hal rages at them for a long while. but "If its just anger. it gets terribly dull" says one director. who gives us his solution.We learn how many directors use previews. performances given before an audience yet prior to the opening night. as teachers. By watching the audience as much as the play to see how engaged they are. it reveals what isnt working. The audience creates an adrenaline rush that can fuel the actors. It breathes with the play: Where its good. they relax; but where the world youre taking them to isnt believable. they tune out or get anxious. And the problem isnt necessarily with the scene where they tune out; the problem might be with the previous scene. The goal is that by opening night there such a confidence among the cast. and theres this feeling like "Lets play with the audience. Play with each other. Enjoy each other."The brilliance of Shakespeares plays is that they provide the actor access to a psychological/physical experience of unlimited emotional heights and depths. When actors are conveying genuine thoughts and feelings. the body doesnt know its acting; the actor is genuinely having the experience at that moment in time. The actor is not revealing their own personal biography and trauma. but to them that may be what it feels like physiologically and emotionally.One director explains at the beginning of the first act. the audience is seeing a play. But by the end of the first half. the world has become more real. there is a different metabolic rate. and the audience should be hooked.Theatre does something movies and tv can never do. and that is bring actor and audience together at the same place and same time. each bringing a feeling into the room. actor influencing audience. audience influencing actor. so that when it is over. everyone. including the designers. all feel they have just experienced something together. There is energy as actors sense and immediately adjust to what the audience is feeling. The actors are responding to the audience responding to the actors. and both are learning things together. It is something only live theatre can achieve.Regardless of philosophy or techniques or approach taken. these directors all shared the same goal: discovering how best to make Shakespeares text resonate with todays audience.Notwithstanding its title. I believe this book will be valuable anywhere throughout the Anglosphere where Shakespeares canon is performed.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Santiago M. SosaAwesome book!