International Theatre Conference: Directing and Authorship in Western Drama

Panel Three
Friday, October 24th, 2-3:45pm

Dr. A.D. Francis, U of Windsor
Abstract: Codes and Clues

The appreciation of art is forever individually subjective. A play that is conscientiously conceived and well-written will always be capable of more than one valid interpretation. Because a director's craft engages far more spectacularly poetic tangibles than are available to the playwright, there is a virtually unlimited number of approaches to the onstage representation of a playwright's intention(s). Each director brings to a written play an artistic individuality of vision that cannot be adequately duplicated by another director. In my paper I will offer only the process by which I, as director, ascertain the intention(s) of a playwright.
I believe that overtly didactic writing is the least engaging. The artist playwright who intends to first entertain and then to enlighten, uses poetically coded language to be both didactic and entertaining concurrently. The more subtle the code, the more entertaining (in both meanings of the word), the decoding. Poetic modes such as figurative language, metaphoric images, and symbolic iteration, are provided by the author to enable the director to unlock the intentions(s) of a play. A well directed play engages the audience, as well, in the process of decoding.

I will use A Midsummer Night's Dream to illustrate.