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Theater Directing - Art, Ethics, Creativity
| Author: | Braun, Kazimierz | |
| Year: | 2000 | |
| Pages: | 544 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-7828-0 978-0-7734-7828-2 | |
| Price: | $299.95 | |
This book is a presentation of a directorial style and a method of teaching directing. First, the book presents, for the first time in English, the directorial studies, training and steps of a directorial career in Poland. Second, the book introduces, explains, and describes a method of teaching and exercising a ‘creative directing’ – based on imagination, oriented toward the unknown, asking fundamental existential, philosophical, moral, and political questions, as to opposed to ‘functional directing’ which focuses on the technical, practical, and managerial aspects of directing. The book is oriented toward readers interested in 20th century theater, but at the same time, it is a textbook for directing students, and can serve teachers on both high school and college levels. Supplemented by 60 photographs from various productions directed by the author.
Reviews
“Accounts of his brilliant productions in Poland, in Germany, in Ireland had appeared in world theatre magazine, The Drama Review, The Theatre Review, as well as his own scholarly articles and critical pieces. . . . A new book on play direction by Kazimierz Braun will undoubtedly make an important contribution to the field.” - Saul Elkin, Distinguished Service Professor, Founder and Artistic Director of Shakespeare in Delaware Park
"Braun's career has spanned decades and continents, and this personal (and lengthy) narrative reveals his life in the theater as director, teacher, and creative artist. Braun's perspective on "creative directing" finds its origins in an eastern European sensibility: it is intellectual and highly creative, but nonetheless remarkably disciplined. Noteworthy is Braun's loyalty to the script at hand and his analysis of the text. Though much of this volume focuses on the dramatic theater, its content is relevant across a range performance genres, including opera and musicals. Braun provides an excellent analysis of the use of space and the environment of the play, and he blends the efforts of the creative artist and the practical craftsman in an intriguing way. His vision for the young director is that of guide for both actor and spectator. This book will have a narrow audience: it is for the serious student of directing, either in an academic setting or in the professional theater world. An interesting guide to finding one's own artistry in both the art and craft of directing for the stage, it will interest professionals and the occasional upper-division undergraduate and graduate student pursuing directing." - CHOICE
"Braun's career has spanned decades and continents, and this personal (and lengthy) narrative reveals his life in the theater as director, teacher, and creative artist. Braun's perspective on "creative directing" finds its origins in an eastern European sensibility: it is intellectual and highly creative, but nonetheless remarkably disciplined. Noteworthy is Braun's loyalty to the script at hand and his analysis of the text. Though much of this volume focuses on the dramatic theater, its content is relevant across a range performance genres, including opera and musicals. Braun provides an excellent analysis of the use of space and the environment of the play, and he blends the efforts of the creative artist and the practical craftsman in an intriguing way. His vision for the young director is that of guide for both actor and spectator. This book will have a narrow audience: it is for the serious student of directing, either in an academic setting or in the professional theater world. An interesting guide to finding one's own artistry in both the art and craft of directing for the stage, it will interest professionals and the occasional upper-division undergraduate and graduate student pursuing directing." - CHOICE
Table of Contents
Table of contents – main chapter headings:
Foreword; Preface by Jan Kott
Introduction: Towards Creative Directing
Part One: My Way of Directing
1. A Way to Directing
2. Shaping a Theater Style
Part Two: Teaching Creative Directing
1. Creative Text Analysis
2. Creating the Human Layer of the Performance
3. Creating the Performance Space
4. Creating the Time of Performance
5. Creating the Action of Performance
Part Three: Creating the Production
1. The Director’s Work: Mind and Imagination
2. The Director’s Practical Preparations
3. Implementation of the Directorial Project Before Rehearsals
4. Creative Rehearsals
5. Final Rehearsals: Lights, Technical, General; the Opening
Afterword by Ed Menta
Bibliography, Index of names, Index of Plays
Foreword; Preface by Jan Kott
Introduction: Towards Creative Directing
Part One: My Way of Directing
1. A Way to Directing
2. Shaping a Theater Style
Part Two: Teaching Creative Directing
1. Creative Text Analysis
2. Creating the Human Layer of the Performance
3. Creating the Performance Space
4. Creating the Time of Performance
5. Creating the Action of Performance
Part Three: Creating the Production
1. The Director’s Work: Mind and Imagination
2. The Director’s Practical Preparations
3. Implementation of the Directorial Project Before Rehearsals
4. Creative Rehearsals
5. Final Rehearsals: Lights, Technical, General; the Opening
Afterword by Ed Menta
Bibliography, Index of names, Index of Plays