Mis-directing the Play: An Argument Against Contemporary Theatre - Softcover

Eminently sensible, delivered with cogent examples and equally cogent arguments. It is a heartfelt cry that needs to be heard. -- Nicholas Rudall One of the paradoxes of the theatre is that the artistry of its greatest directors is largely invisible...Terry McCabe raises the curtain on why this must be so. -- Gregory Mosher I would be delighted if every director I work with read and gave serious consideration to the ideas in this book. -- Jeffrey Sweet

Terry McCabe, himself an accomplished stage director and teacher of theatre arts, here attacks what he calls the growing decadence that plagues contemporary stage directing. He argues for a radical reorganization of the director? s view of his role. It has become an article of faith in the theatre, Mr. McCabe observes, that a play is about what the director chooses to have it be about. But what right does a director have to treat a play as a found object, to be reshaped to express the director? s concerns? None whatsoever, Mr. McCabe replies. He examines anecdotally a range of work by different directors by way of offering a substantial critique of today? s leading theory of stage directing, and he offers an alternate approach. He challenges the notion that a play is the director? s vehicle for self-expression, arguing that the idea of the director as centerpiece of the theatre tends to distort plays and oppress actors. He explores what it means to direct a play when directing is properly understood as a process of self-effacement. Mis-directing the Play examines the role of the director as collaborator with actors, designers, dramaturges, and playwrights. Throughout, the book? s focus is on shedding the counterproductive myth of the director as creative auteur and urging in its place a return to first principles: the idea of the director as the interpretive artist in charge of putting the playwright? s play onstage.