Play Directing: Analysis, Communication and Style - Hardcover

Hodge, Francis

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0136828329 ISBN 13: 9780136828327

Publisher: Routledge, 1987

Synopsis

Play Directing is about the leader of an artistic enterprise ― the play director in today's theatre. The book describes the various roles a director plays, from “calling the plays” to orchestrating and blending a symphony of actors and elements. The author emphasizes that the role of the director is not as a dictator, but as a leader of multiple craftsmen who look to the director for ideas that will give impetus to their fullest, most creative expressions.

The text emphasizes that directing is not a finite and specific “system” of production, but rather is a venue for providing an intensive look at the structure of plays, of acting and actor-ownership, and of all the other crafts that together make a produced play.

Students are guided through the whole process of working on a play from style to analysis, including its relationship to moving pictures and television. They are encouraged to use this foundation as a basis from which to set their own goals as creative and dedicated leaders.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Play Directing, Sixth Edition describes the various roles a director plays, from selection and analysis of the play to working with actors and designers to bring it to life. The authors emphasize that the role of the director is not as a dictator, but as a leader of artists working in collaboration who look to the director for ideas that will give impetus to their fullest, most creative expressions. The text emphasizes that directing is not a finite and specific “system” of production, but rather is a means for providing an intensive look at the structure of plays, of acting and actor-ownership, and of all the other crafts that together make a produced play.

New to This Edition

• Features new author Michael McLain, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles and founding Artistic Associate and Literary Director of the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, who brings a fresh new voice to Play Directing, Sixth Edition while retaining the point of view and fundamentals that have made the text a success in its earlier editions.
• Adds new chapters on working with actors (Chapter 16) and on the director and the dramaturg (Appendix 2), as well as new material on the director in opera, offering a wealth of new information on the director's role.
• Revises many exercises for increased focus on points discussed in the text, expanding the opportunities for practical application.
• Includes an expanded bibliography with an updated survey of a diverse range of works related to directing, providing students with valuable guidelines to further study.

About the Author

Francis Hodge, late. Hodge was a Professor Emeritus in The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance and served as professor of directing from 1949–79. 

Michael McLain participated in the founding of the Geffen Playhouse as its initial Literary Director and Artistic Associate, and he was similarly involved in the founding of the School of Theater, Film and Television as its first Associate Dean for Theater. As a Fulbright-Scholar, Professor McLain conducted research in the areas of directing and director training in the former Soviet Union. Subsequently, he was a member of the first faculty exchange between the UC and what was then Leningrad State University. In 2011, Prof. McLain became a Fellow of the Likachev Foundation, St. Petersburg. In over three decades of teaching in the Department of Theater, Prof. McLain directed works by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Brecht and Sam Shepard, among many others, and he is the co-author of "Play Directing: Analysis, Communication and Style," now in its 7th edition from Allyn & Bacon. He is a consultant to the government of Hong Kong in the area of theater curricula for graduate and undergraduate programs

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1987
• ISBN 10: 0136828329
• ISBN 13: 9780136828327
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 288