Questions and Perplexities

At the first session of the three-day gathering, Richard Gough asked participants to articulate the areas and ideas they hoped would be covered over the weekend in relation to the role of the director. A brief summary of the points that were touched upon.

Roots
 Where does the work we do come from?
 What is our current position?
 What is our responsibility to our roots
 Are we obliged to remain true to our elders?
 New creation/ideas of the times
 Roots of practice, process
 What should we keep, what is there instead?

Practice, process, meaning
 with roots, idiosyncrtic and individual

Gender
 Is gender still a relevant issue? In what ways?

Tradition
 Institution vs “rootless” work
 Utopian lines of development
 What about those who work outside traditions?
 European vs UK vs non-European tradition

Education
 Do we need a training for directors? What sort of training is/should this be?
 Cross-cultural practises
 Paper & academia – a low-risk guarantee?
 “Group of people with text in room” - need for education or not?
 Apprenticeship
 French: formation rather than education
 Founding skills and techniques – but what are they?
 Training or just giving permission
 simply declaring oneself director

The “director” as a semantic term
 What name does the role have in other languages?
 Is it a valid description?

The director's role
 Devising, instructing, building?
 Creating concepts, visions?
 Dramaturgy?

Content of the work

Craft or artform?

Political implications, ethical considerations
 What impact does the theatrepractice have?
 Whose role is it to think about?
 Should we be concerned about this?
 Different practices, different impacts, differrent responsibilities?

Quantifying vs qualifying work
 Difficulty in speaking of work – how does one present it?
 Funding issues and difficulties

Categorization (what's in a name?)
 Expectations tied to the category your body of work falls into. Should work be able / allowed to speak for itself

Labour relations
 What working culture/language/relationships are established by the director?
 Differences within different approaches and practices

Relationship to the written word

Funding, structure

Recycling
 Using ideas over again, carrying ideas forward
 Revival of older work
 Site-specific work, touring work
 The ephemeral nature of theatre

Concept/vision
 Necessary to start working proces
 Developing, presenting

Does the role of the director have a future?