On Directing

I just finished directing Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors," which was performed yesterday at the Church of the Transfiguration in New York, and in two days we begin rehearsals for Benjamin Britten's "Curlew River," to be performed there in March. Both are chamber operas with religious themes by composers born two years apart, but they are quite different in style. 

Directing is a very indirect art form. The director is not actually creating the work like a choreographer or controlling it the way a conductor does. The director's job is more like a president's, having a vision of what needs to be done and then coordinating the work of all the other people involved in the production, in this case singers, instrumentalists, costume designer, set designer, and stage manager. Even before rehearsing, choosing these people — especially the performers — are the most important decisions the director will make, although sometimes there is a producer who does that, in which case a director just has to work as best as possible with whoever they are.

For directing is, again like a president, also very much about "handling" people, and of course that is very much a reflection of the director's personality and how he or she relates to people in general. Some directors are very authoritarian, others more "democratic," but all become parent figures on some level, at least to the performers, who often project their own mother or father onto the director and react accordingly. Some get very upset when criticized and argue with the director about everything, but others have a need for it and then work hard to gain the director's approval. The director then has the same problem as any parent in exercising the right amount of control, letting the performers come up with their own ideas and then selecting which ones to keep. 

Baroque opera house at Royal Palace in Sweden: July, 2012

On a practical level, sometimes the best thing a director can do is simply let everybody practice, without interfering too much, because the more actors or singers know their parts, the easier it is to make changes in, for example, how and where they move, or how a line is delivered. Then too, as they get their parts memorized, they often come up with good ideas on their own, which a wise director will recognize and incorporate. Ultimately, the director has to be the imagined audience, witnessing the production as it unfolds as if for the first time, and be honest about what that imagined audience is experiencing. Is it clear what's going on? Is it interesting and emotionally engaging, or is it confusing and boring? In the end, the audience's reaction means everything, as all politicians instinctively know.