30th August, 2009 - Ideas About Directing #8

Idea 8 – The Pub Is Important

There is no doubt in my mind is that the best shows are almost always ones where the cast develop some sort of team spirit. The sum total is greater than the integers that you are adding up.

There is no sure fire way of creating this rather elusive thing, but you can provide conditions where it is more likely to happen. I use the word pub here as a metaphor for all the stuff that isn’t really about rehearing per se – like a cup of coffee before you start; like a habit of bringing biscuits to rehearsals; like talking things over in the kitchen. This stuff isn’t rehearsals, but it is about teamwork, and if you don’t work out how to do that for each and every team that you work with, then you are in the wrong job. (And the word “job” here is also a metaphor – this time for “unpaid hobby that you do in smelly old church halls while normal people are watching the football.”)