Shakespeare in a Day - Director's Challenge Preparation

A few months ago, the school musical was cancelled. On the 3rd December, we had planned a full day rehearsal for the musical. With this day now empty, it was decided that we would do something else on this day and thus the concept of Shakespeare in a Day with a 30-minute performance at night was born. In this, we were to reference and perform all of Shakespeare's plays within a 30 minute time period. Although this is not a part of the BTEC course, it is an important piece of experience for Directors Challenge next year as the upper BTECs (now my class) were to direct some of the plays with a group of about 5. We were to perform the piece in a meta-theatre was and thus have to get the lower school kids used to this concept; direct address is generally tricky for kids to understand so this would be my main issue when trying to direct.

In last Monday and Thursday's lesson, we talked about the general directing process and what directors would do in a larger out of school context. It was here that I learnt that directors do a lot more than what I had previously thought they did. They lead the whole process, especially concerning what the actors do on stage and how they speak as well as assigning characters, producing a rehearsal schedule, sorting out tech, costume and set at production meetings with fellow backstage crew who must be influenced by the director's decisions for the piece to work. Directors rely on the script and the author's intentions as well as their own experiences and using a unique style that very professional directors use.

It is with this context that we were to create a 2-minute piece of a Shakespeare play. I was given Romeo and Juliet and as a lot of people know this play, decided that I would do a mock-up of Family Fortunes whilst still following the plot of the play. In order for the day to run smoothly, I had to write my own script for the kids to use because they often find it hard to come up with words on their own. The script was also for my own benefit so I could tell the kids what to say quickly and without having to think of words on the spot, perhaps confusing my actors even more.

Before the day, I made a plan of what I wanted to accomplish in the hour that I had to teach the piece to them. I would start off with a 5-minute warm-up and getting to know their names so that communication would be easier. The following 55 minutes would be spent learning and perfecting the piece. Generally, I would say that this process went okay but there are some aspects of my directing technique that I would want to change. Firstly, is to communicate what I want the actors to do much better. There was one actor who couldn't grasp something. I thought that by me telling him to remain still during one part would be fine and he would understand that he would need to move when I had directed him to when he goes offstage. This didn't happen and he remained awkwardly on stage when he should have exited. Other than that, I think that my already stable relationship with the actors I had helped me to direct them as we already had a level of respect for one another and thus could move on much quicker.