As I prepare for The Uncanny Things Trilogy, I don’t think I’m the first writer/director/performer to struggle with this. But I’d quite like to try and write a proper blog on the different ways that directing/performing in one’s own work is a challenge, and ways around it.
The Problem of Interpretation
First, the problem of interpreting/creation. When writing for others, something inside the head must be interpreted to find a shape on the page. When directing/performing something by another, one must interpret something on the page to give it a form in the head, then the body and/or stage.
That is to say, when directing one’s own work, a choice must be made. “Do I want to try and direct something based on the interpretation in the writer’s (my) head, or to interpret what is on the page as best I can?”
When directing a new work by another writer, one might talk to them to understand what their intention is. Ultimately, however, one is still trying to make something that works for someone else - whether for the audience, the performers, or the director-as-judge-of-self.
In this case, I am trying to interpret what is on the page. How do the gaps in these words tell me what is important to share with our audience.
The Problem of Innovation
Related to the above, the problem of innovation. When writing, one inevitably has to imagine something. Perhaps one imagines a particular tune, or a costume, or a feeling. When directing, one usually creates these things based on the words on the page.
For the writer’s imagined tunes, costumes, and feelings are often a ladder towards a different end point. They must expect that the humans they work with - designers and directors, actors and audiences - will all bring new ideas. As a good director, it is important to understand the writer might have been listening to a lot of My Chemical Romance while writing, but they’ve written a world that is squarely Tchaikovsky, which might be even better juxtaposed against birdsong.
In this case, I am trying to step away from how I imagined the show, and listen to the team and my own thoughts as I read the words on the page.
The Problem of Interrogation
Finally, the problem of interrogation. When directing, one must constantly assess one’s work. Does this scene, relationship, character, feel right? But the writer must often ask “does this feel like what was in my head?”
My experience with this problem has been the need to very deliberately sit between the two gears. When does my sense that something isn’t right come from my directorial instinct (it’s not reading, it’s against the theme of the show), and when my writerly interest (it’s different to how I imagined it)?
This is when I will often say “I need to digest that”. Often, the change and surprise is good. It just takes a moment to step back and look at the whole painting, and guide it into beauty.
Comments