Product Description

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. This book 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. Readers 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. For anyone interested in Play Direction or Theatre Study.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70827 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-30
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 416 pages

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.

Customer Reviews

I Was There!!!
I studied directing under Francis Hodge at The University of Texas at Austin. REPEAT! I STUDIED DIRECTING UNDER HODGE HIMSELF!!! HE was not at all dry. Rather, he KNEW what he was talking about, much more so than his detractors claim. In his last years, a disciple(?)whom we shall call Walter Plinge attempted to teach his method, and according to good sources, had the TEMERITY to exclaim in class that Hodge himself DID NOT KNOW HIS OWN METHOD!!! Can you believe the gall (and BS) of this man? Take it from one WHO ACTUALLY STUDIED THE MAN'S METHOD WITH THE MAN HIMSELF, Francis Hodge, like Noel Coward, had more pure theatre knowledge in his little finger than anyone else had in their entire body. Hodge's method can be explained very easily: KNOW THE PLAY, INSIDE AND OUT!!! Be VERY careful what you interpolate. Hodge gives you a complete plan whereby the play itself provides all the information you need. Analysis: Learn the dramatic action, paying particular attention to the character's polar attitudes: Who they are at the play's beginning, and how they progress through to the end. Communication: Here, Hodge shows you how to attack the play on stage, constructing working groundplans and increasing dramatic tension by placement of actors, furniture, and objects to better tell the story. Style: Here is where you go into the individual nuances of the play: How they use language, are they straightforward or elliptical in their speech, etc, and how to pull the whole thing together. In other words, you just don't automatically play the climactic scene down center or down right; you PLAY IT WHERE THE PLAY ITSELF TELLS YOU TO PLAY IT! Sorry to be so vehement, but it galls me to no end to read the uninformed ramblings of someone who did not study with the man, and claim to know his method. I WAS THERE!!!
At the risk of sounding pompous, here endith the lesson!!!

Best of the best.
While getting a Masters Degree in motion picture writing and directing I took a class from the acting school which used this book. Most of the insights in the book apply to both plays and recorded performing arts though Hodge fully defines what makes play production different from the recorded mediums. The author is truly brilliant in his inclusiveness and insights into story telling using human performance. The book is not boring to those of us who love the detail that gives a deep understanding of how things work. The lack of a patronizing voiceless or feminist writing tone in the third edition that I read, thus the use of the word "he" as a pronoun, shows the author's standout individuality within an industry where being a follower of political bull-hawking is the norm (thus I dissagree with a previous viewer on this subject). While most books I've read about directing are only the author's limited viewpoint of that which they've experienced while directing, Hodge departs from this easy approach by producing a complete directorial viewpoint that gives the student of directing the broad tools necessary to handle the complex activity of play directing as a professional. You can't possibly go wrong by reading the third edition of this book; one hopes that the future editions are as fine. It was one of those life enriching reads that those of us who love to understand things will never forget. Thank you Francis Hodge.

A Tedious, But Practical Text For Only the Beginner
Dry, dry, dry is the only way to describe the method of this text's approach to the work of the director of a live play. If directing a first project or working in the classroom, this book does contain useful tips for the analysis of a script, the use of various techniques in the staging thereof, and all the basic (and I mean ELEMENTARY) knowledge one needs to get a play off the ground from day one. But if seeking more insight into the art of it all, or a text not resigned to refer to the director as "he," for the sheer simplicity it creates, one would do better to seek out the other numerous interview-style tomes, with pieces from great directors on their own approach.