My approach to the text

Introduction

I've endeavored to develop a system of stage directing preparation by which I can make sure I have asked myself every possible question prior to entering the rehearsal room, and thus attempt to deliver a bad-ass theatrical product worthy of the twenty first century.

It's my belief that if you ask yourself every possible question, and look at the text from every angle, get your hands dirty in the script and get the hell away from your preoccupations, you will be totally free and completely instinctual in the rehearsal room, and yet possessed entirely by the soul of the play. You will be completely responsive to what is front of you. And the actors, inspired by your total abandon (which was hard won with my rigorous methods of analysis below), they will leap off the cliff with you, and will terrify themselves in performance. Which is the point.

If you rely on your gut without first daring yourself to plumb the depths of a play, that is to say, wing it after a couple of readings and maybe a separation into beats, you subject yourself to two dangers. One, you will not have hung out with the aromas that waft up slowly from the text, and you will be as surprised by the inner landscape of the text (if you can even find it) as the actors, and therefore baffled by the play's big central questions. And two, you will be at the mercy of your own taste. Nothing will have surprised you, and your productions will not improve from one to the next.

To get a better idea of how these methods work themselves into a production, I suggest reading my thesis for my production of Martin McDonagh's The Lonesome West at the Yale School of Drama, produced in February 2004. I tried to make it an interesting read. I think Martin McDonagh is one of the most important playwrights of our generation, and The Pillowman will be remembered as our Waiting for Godot. (I could go on about this: Godot decimated every artistic movement since Aristotle's Poetics, rendering everything after it essentially pointless, and The Pillowman finished the job by decimating our very ability to apply narrative to morality.)

Here, I must acknowledge those who have taught me, because it's through them that these ideas emerged. Some of these ideas in fact, are theirs entirely. My eternal thanks go to Liz Diamond, David Chambers, Doug Hughes, Elinor Fuchs, Joe Roach, Daniel Fish, Karin Coonrod, Ming Cho Lee, James Bundy, Evan Yionoulis, Peter Francis James, and Vsevelod Meyerhold (who, given his murder in 1942, didn't teach me directly).

 

Negative Space

When someone learns Japanese Calligraphy, they are not taught to copy the characters, but to duplicate the white space around the characters. The ink takes care of itself. I have always felt that the best acting does something similar. It creates negative space onto which the audience projects their own experience. "How nice for you that you cry," a famous dance teacher told her class at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, "how much better for us when we cry."

We do not go to the theatre to admire an actor having an emotion, we go to HAVE the emotion. It is therefore the responsibility of good actors (and good directors, good playwrights, etc) to get themselves out of the way—to become a lightning rod drawing energy from the universe and firing it at the audience.

The best example of this is deadpan.

Which is why the best actor of the last fifty years may be Bob Newhart.

 

The Pizzicato Effect

In classical music, Pizzicato is the plucking of a muted string on a violin or other string instrument. The effect (in my opinion) is the indication of the note for your heart to play. Get a copy of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and listen to Susannah's third act aria De Viene on the best stereo you can find. Turn up the bass (slightly), and twist a rubber band between your thumb and middle finger. Stretch the rubber band taught, and hold it against your stirnum, right where the ribs separate. The orchestration of "De Viene" is almost all pizzicato. As it plays, close your eyes and pluck the rubber band along with the strings in the opera.

I dare you to resist being emotionally moved.

Pizzicato and Japanese Calligraphy and Deadpan draw you out of the passive audience experience that is soooooo twentieth century. This is the bone I've been gnawing on over the past few years as a director—how to create this experience for the audience, so that going to the theatre becomes closer to going skiing than it is going to the movies.

 

Spark Ignition

This is a system of analyzing a play for the sake of unearthing every possible question you may have yet to ask yourself. It's not a "how to" (none of these are), it's more of "what else?".

It's based on the idea that there are four elements at our disposal as directors: Language, Transaction, Time, and Space. And each of those can be separated into four planes of conflict or tension: a character with themselves (or their own soul), a character with each other character in the play, a character with the world of the play, and the world of the play with the world of the audience (current events, geographic location of the production, the audience, what play came before and after it, in short the zeitgeist).

Within each of these intersections (e.g. conflict in between a character and the world of the play in the dimension of language) there are clues or "indicators" to look for in the text to determine where there is friction. One can then use the listed tools to heighten the conflict or friction within one's own production. It is in igniting these "sparks" that makes a production crackle with life and begin to cast a spell on the audience.

 

Plot Analysis (or, analyzing the macro)

Robert McKee describes stories as "equipment for living". The basic plot, as outlined first by Aristotle is a basic map of the human consciousness, and is therefore embedded in every story, whether this story observes these rules or breaks them. David Howard regards each of these guideposts more as curiosities on the landscape, to be kept in view but not made out with, per se.

In the Plot Analysis Method, based on Robert McKee's book Story, and combined with David Howard's teachings, take each character and run them through 7 questions: Premise, Controlling Idea, Inciting incident, Complications, Crisis, Climax and Resolution. Download a PDF here.

Premise

A one sentence description of the story by providing an end to the sentence: what would happen if…

Controlling idea

The theme or “moral” of the story based on the end.

Inciting incident

The surprise event that sets the plot in motion (this should preferably happen within the play itself, not before)

Plot Complications

Examples throughout the story (following it in a linear fashion), stretching from the inciting incident to the crisis, of the protagonist expecting one thing but being surprised by something totally other, which sets up the next expectation, which will be subverted by the next surprise. There are usually 5 or 6 of these per play. When in doubt about the dramatic events, trace the surprises of the protagonist.

Culmination

This is the twist at the end of the second act. Falling, perhaps, at the golden mean of the story. If we've had a question on our mind from the beginning of the story ("will Jake Gittes solve the mystery?"), this moment reveals the true actual question underlying what we thought we knew ("will they actually get away with it?")

Crisis

The ultimate choice with which the protagonist is faced. It must be a choice between 2 positives or 2 negatives, because a choice between a positive and negative is not a choice.

Climax

The actual making of the choice (this moment is usually not more than one line).

Resolution

The consequences of the choice for the protagonist, and usually the denouement of the play itself.

Here's a filled-in example from a pilot I wrote:

Download a PDF here.

The 'Action Breakdown' (or, analyzing the micro)

This is a system of text analysis based on a Russian method introduced to me by my beloved professor David Chambers. My model no longer resembles what we worked on in class, but that initial exercise was what finally burst open this process. I went to grad school most bewildered by how to effectively analyze a text, and was thrilled to alight upon this. I was also playfully mocked by my colleagues for being something of a mad scientist (as you have probably determined yourself from all of these little tricks).

Assembling the script takes a couple of hours at a copy machine that can do 11x17 paper, and a trip to the art supply store to get 2 sheets of matte board cut to 11x17 for covers. Then you three hole punch everything and bind it with those loose little metal rings they use at the O'Neill. Be warned, other directors will make fun of you. But the last laugh is on them, because nothing mainlines the text into your bloodstream faster, on a micro level (macro is covered in the above Aristotle/Robert McKee/David Howard Plot breakdown section).

Make a copy of the script and cut out the pages, copying them one by one with the first page (above left—the script goes into the white space). Then copy the other side onto the back of all of these sheets so that when you have it open in front of you, it spreads across the table at a whopping 32". Ball point pens are a must (no bleeding).

Download a PDF of the b;ank version above here.

Then you begin...

Step 1-the Topical beats

I begin by going through the text and separating the topical beats (change of subject/topic) with a pencil, then circling in blue the topic sentence of the beat. I highlight any given circumstances in yellow, and underline in red anything any character says that indicates their philosophy of life or argument. Topical beats are tricky, and can change as you read more deeply into the play. Never feel stuck with your first choice. After this step, which can take a few sessions, I begin with the columns.

Step 2-Event/Question column

Here I come up with one sentence description of each of the topical beats in as muscular language as possible. This is money in the bank in many ways, because you can read your own breakdown of the entire play in 10 minutes whenever you need to. Also, in this column, once I have determined the Director Beats, I insert the question the audience is probably asking themselves at this moment (e.g. in The Drawer Boy, did Morgan kill the two tall English girls?). This is important to keep and build intrigue and tension in the story telling. I usually do this in black ink.

Step 3-Given Circumstances/Inferences

Having already highlighted the givens in the text, I then write them out in red in this column, and then in another color write any inferences that these facts yield. It's important to keep hard facts separate from inferences. Alternatively, if the inferences they yield should be a question for the actor and not myself, I list them in the "Questions for Actors" column.

Step 4-Action Breakdown

Here I write out long hand, in prose form, everything that happens in the play in as detailed a way as possible, with the most vivid and accurate verbs I know (see below for a way to learn every English verb). Strong, declarative sentences are vital here. You will find, as you write, tedious though it may be, it is while you are doing this that your best ideas come, and the best part is, they come wafting up from the text itself, not your current preoccupations! I usually do this in blue. When finished with this part, circle all the verbs in pencil.

Step 5-Gerunds by Character

Here, within each topical beat, I take the circled verbs from the previous column and list them by character. In one beat, for instance, Lisa might be pleading, deflecting, avoiding.

Step 6-Objectives and Obstacles (in order to)

Here, you look at the pattern in the gerunds of the previous column, and fill in the blank: in order to...what? Do this by character.

Step 7-Conflict/Focal Point

This is the big one. Here is where you will determine the director beats (and go back and figure out the audience questions). The pattern in the objectives column will yield two diametrically opposed wants. Lisa wants this BUT Jack wants that. They should be opposites or ironically similar or related, but either way, it should be the hottest conflict you can think of. Sometimes it takes creative thinking, sometimes I do this on my feet in the room with the actors, but make it difficult and fun for them to achieve what they want, while pitted against their scene partner. Above all else remember: Actors must always be playing the positive to win. Even when they do things like commit suicide.

These conflicts will typically stretch across multiple topical beats, and when they end, that is the end of one Director's Beat. Then you can figure out the focal points within the conflicts in Time, Language, Transaction, and Space.

Step 8-Tempo and Rhythm Analysis

As it is a language based art form, there's plenty to mine from alliteration and assonance. A collection of hard sounding consonants or soft, etc. Use table work and this section to make a gymnasium for the actors's mouths. Evan Yionoulis taught us in her acting class at Yale that the vowels drudge up the emotion, and the consonants organize them into action. Use this column to go nuts with the power of language, and get the poetry to rip through the bodies of your cast. And it's all poetry.

Step 9-Questions for Actors

Throughout the course of filling out this book, questions for the actors will pop up. Capture them in this column and use them in rehearsal. I encourage you to not be "Socratic" in your directing, that is, have the answer in your head when you ask the actor a question. It's disingenuous, and a little condescending. I realize there's an argument for getting it to come from them, but there are so many questions to get to that if you have the luxury of an answer already, just lay it out and go to the deeper one. You will find throughout your career that the more seasoned an actor is, the more they will want prescriptive direction like line readings. Weird sounding, I know, but they know there's so much more to get to in a limited time, that specific, time saving direction can get you to the bigger issues faster. I LOVE actors like this.

Step 10-Imagery/Miscellaneous Observations

This is where to collect any thoughts that are not questions for the actors, that pop up for you, such as insights to share with the actors. Also, use this column to trace image strands throughout the text. This will help you in the design phase. I sometimes circle powerful imagery in the text in black.

Step 11-Visuals/Blocking

This is for blocking diagrams or descriptions of movement or even stapled little pictures. This comes last, and if you've made it this far, you can probably say you know almost as much about this play as the playwright.
Using this system in conjunction with the plot analysis above will make you a directing ninja. You'll have all the macro and micro covered. You will blow their minds in the room.

This an example of a completed page from an earlier prototype of this system...

Download a PDF of this example here.

 

Locating the Comedic Potency of a Scene

This is a way to locate exactly how to make something funny, and for whom. And by the way, this is the one that makes everyone I know think I'm crazy. But how many times have you seen a comedy that was killed by bad direction? Comedy is how we teach ourselves not to kill each other. Comedy is what separates us from the animal kingdom. It must be protected. Download the pdf here.

 

The Character Matrix

The way to establish atmosphere in the world of a production is to examine the trellis of wants among the characters—their interactions then become the roses. You'll notice that the character names are listed on both the X and Y axis. Each square explains how the character on the horizontal plain wants to make the character in the vertical plain feel, e.g. in the second row, fourth column, Eunice wants Rob to stay blind to the bigger issues of her frailty.

These characters, by the way, are from a pilot I wrote once about tour trolley drivers in Boston who fistfight about politics and interact with the ghosts of American history.

To print and examine a PDF of this, click here. This exercise might be the most useful of any in directorial preparation because it is confounding in its simplicity. Damn you, Akum, damn you straight to hell.