Confessions of a first-time director

Renee Liang muses about her experience as a first-time director and talks to Suzanne Ritzenhoff about Q Theatre and the Auckland Performing Arts Forum.

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I’ve just closed my third and final play for the year, one reason why my blog has been missing from these pages.  The year seems to have been an incredibly busy one for most people I know.  At the same time as The Bone Feeder was running, at least five other theatrical offerings were on offer in Auckland – from an intimate, tightly choreographed presentation of Gary Henderson’s SkinTight, to an enthusiastic and somewhat crazy rendition of The Who’s Tommy by the prolific student club Stage Two productions.  So in between working as producer, director, writer, designer, caterer, costume maker, stage manager and cleaner for my show, and trying to make it to as many of the other shows as possible, it’s been a crazy month. 

The Bone Feeder was my first time directing, so this week I thought I’d offer a few thoughts on the experience.  I did it as part of my postgraduate degree in Drama, as a ‘Studio project’ which offers a ‘safe’ (largely critic-free) environment and plenty of support for novices like myself.  It’s not a bad way to start, and I found that my previous experience in producing and touring Lantern meant I could focus on the directing and run the production side on semi automatic, so to speak.  (It never is that simple… but anyway.)

I went to a speech by Florian Habicht once and I remember him saying that the key to having a great production and having fun is to work with people you like.  He’s totally right.  Although the lead up to the production was chaotic (the final working draft was only finished three weeks before we opened and casting was finalised at two weeks out), I really struck it lucky in terms of people. During the rehearsal period I was able to reflect on my utter genius in not only writing a play for a (nearly) all-male cast, but also in casting professionals who didn’t mind being bossed around by a short Asian newbie director in pigtails.

Of course, I never make it easy for myself – not only did The Bone Feeder involve a cast of five actors, but there were also five musicians (and first-time actors) based in Hamilton, meaning some commutes during rehearsal.  The long drives I did with the composer, Andrew Corrêa, meant we became great friends and I suspect that I’ve turned Andrew into a theatre nerd as well as telling him far too much about my love life.

I’ve never done a course in directing (though maybe I will now that I’m hooked).  So, time being of the essence, I turned to books.  One of those I read was Anne Bogart’s collection of essays A Director Prepares (Routledge, 2001 if you’re interested.)  I learnt two key things from this book: one, that a director’s job is to listen and two that a director’s job is to watch. My cast added a third: to communicate.  So these were the simple principles I took with me into rehearsal. 

I’ve been lucky enough to watch a number of directors at work and see their different styles.  One of them, Tony Forster, told me a famous quote (it’s so famous I don’t remember who it’s by) that, to paraphrase, the actors complete the writer’s gesture (and by implication, the director assists in this process).  Murray Edmond, my supervisor who coaxed my director’s instinct out of the shadows, told me that a director goes into the rehearsal room knowing everything about the characters through spending hours delving into the writer’s mind through detailed script study (I admit to taking a few shortcuts here). By the time they leave the rehearsal room for the last time, all that knowledge has been transferred to the actors, who now know far more than the director.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts – comments box below if you want to add to or quibble with them! Also, I wanted to highlight a great upcoming opportunity - on October 30th  everyone is invited to the Auckland Performing Arts Forum, jointly organized by practitioners and Q Theatre.  I did a mini-interview last week with Suzanne Ritzenhoff, General Manager of Q Theatre.

Renee: What prompted the start of the Performing Arts Forum? What do the organisers hope to achieve?

Suzanne: The idea for the 2008 performing arts forum was to create a platform for the industry to meet each other, raise and discuss current issues and start to create a shared understanding of the performing arts issues.
This year we are hoping to take this a bit further by not only providing this platform to meet and talk together, but also by identifying and prioritizing key issues of concern. 

Renee: After the discussions, what will happen next?

Suzanne: At the end of the forum day, each participant has the opportunity to identify his/her most important issues. And since the discussion groups have already signalled three priorities to develop this issue further we anticipate that this forum will help to develop an action plan on how to best move forward for the sector.

Renee: What are some of the things that came out of last year's forum?

Suzanne: I think the comments at the end of last year’s forum express the outcome of the day quite clearly: Here are some of the comments:

• “It’s great to see and meet new people and peers
• Feel like I’m part of a community
• There is a common purpose for Auckland theatre to grow strong
• There was a spirit of unity: that Akld’s theatre sector is fragmented is a myth
• This meeting’s been a long time coming and needs to happen again and again and again
• The structure of the event worked well, with people setting the agenda, and moving and speaking freely.
•  Same issues exist in Wellington and in the dance community.
• The venue group talking so frankly was extraordinary.  It’s a wonderfully healthy thing to be able to candidly discuss and debate.
• We all want a strong theatre industry in 20 years so we have to take responsibility for making sure there is space for the next generation to take their place in theatre.
• It’s about moving forward: taking responsibility for changes and actions.”

Renee: Tell me what Q Theatre will be able to offer emerging practitioners.

Suzanne: Q Theatre’s vision is to develop a sustainable performing arts industry and we are looking to work closely with the organisations who are currently supporting the wider industry including the emerging artists. The collaboration of these organisations will inform Q Theatre strategy on our development work within the industry.

Renee:  Is there still a chance to comment on design or programme plans for Q?

Suzanne: As Q Theatre is planning to start construction in December this year, the design has been pretty much locked down. Over the past few years Q Theatre has received some great feedback from the industry which informed our design decisions. As we are now entering the detailed planning phase the operation of the facility we are envisaging a similar process for the operation of Q Theatre and consequently are keen to get feedback from the industry on our planning and thinking.

OK, that’s all from me.  Next fortnight I resume the Cultural Storytellers series, interviewing some amazing culturemakers from around NZ.