Thinking Like a Director: A Practical Handbook - Hardcover

Bloom, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571199925 ISBN 13: 9780571199921

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2001

Synopsis

The only theater book of its kind -- a guide to directing technique by a professional director.

If professions move in cycles of desirability and glamour, directing is surely in an ascant phase. Actors by the dozens have tried their hand at it and playwrights and screenwriters increasingly direct their own work.

Based on nearly twenty years of directing and teaching experience, Thinking Like a Director is a practical handbook that aims to convey the experience of directing and the theatrical mind-set that successful directors possess. More than a mere set of guidelines, Michael Bloom's book details a comprehensive way of thinking about directing that covers every stage of a production -- from a director's first reading of a play through final rehearsals. Bloom reveals that the key to directorial thinking is a dual-perspective vision, focusing on the life of each character (internal point of view) and the structural elements (external) of a play. In this manner, all of the key elements for interpretation and working with actors are integrated into a single method. Bloom illustrates his techniques by utilizing one of America's most accessible and popular plays, The Glass Menagerie, as his primary touchstone. Concise and engaging, Bloom's book is for anyone who has ever uttered the phrase "But what I really want to do is direct."

About this title

Review:

'If I ever decided (heaven and hell forbid) to direct a play, I'd be sure to have Michael Bloom's illuminating and indispensable text nearby to guide and challenge me, step-by-step, as I found my way.' Ariel Dorfman

Book Description:

Thinking Like a Director by Michael Bloom - drawing on twenty years of directing and teaching experience - identifies and isolates all of the key elements both for dramatic interpretation and for working with actors, and integrates them into a single method.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0571199925
• ISBN 13: 9780571199921
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 239