I'm directing my first play in 15 years which is a short, and incredibly funny.  However the entire show takes place seated.  A couple is being interviewed by a woman.  The cast was put together based upon great audition readings, and a prior staged reading of the play where they were fantastic.

First rehearsal comes around and I made 2 mistakes.  First I turned the focus heavily on characterization, which might not be so heavy a focus in a short if there was more movement.  Then I gave them boundaries of where I believed their characters could not go.  For example, the interviewer can't be too bitchy.

So as a result of this focus on characters I have turned a comedy into a drama and I believe I have slowed down the progress of two of the actors in developing the great characters that I know they are capable of.  With the third, I have been constantly baffled by the character ideas that he has come up with.  (They don't come close to match the spirit of the play and have resulted in motivations that are puzzling and unrealistic to say the least.)  I have since then told the actors that I erred in giving them those limitations, and asked them to disregard them.  I have also worked with the third actor to get his character to make sense within the coarse of the script however, getting him to the same place emotionally is still a puzzle.

While we have started making progress on the show I believe that I have slowed it down from what it could be.  Regardless of me asking them to disregard my limitations, I think they they are still out there.  So I am looking for suggestions in two areas. 

A:  I believe all three actors to be too far in their own heads to let the creativity truely flow.  I believe this to be especially true of actor number 3 who has never had serious acting classes.  He requests exercises in which he says the same thing 5 different ways to figure out what feels best, which is fine, but I fear is hurting his character development and evolution.

B:  I would like to essentially press the reset button for me while keeping what is good that the cast has found without telling them hey lets start over.  I want to push them to develop REALLY rich characters that when played right will only make the show funnier.

I'm sure that this is a common problem, but basically I see so much potential here, and am worried that my inexperience is only standing in the way of making this show amazing.    Luckily we have plenty of time to make this right.  I welcome all thoughts and suggestions.


Edited by OHReid - 4/25/10 at 7:50pm

Now that you mention it, I HAVE been focusing too much on emotions. I haven't used the word objectives in 2 or 3 rehearsals. Thats a great point.

Dont get me wrong there is SOME movement, entering, standing, etc . . . but in the scheme of things it is fairly minimal.

Yes, I wont likely be telling an actor not to do something ahead of time again.

Thanks for the great points.

As it's just a 3 hander it may help if they rehearsed in front of mirrors, if you can orginise it?
I found this to work especialy with subtle comedies, as they get to view what the audience sees & how everyone reacts to each other. Remembering your  view piont is representing that of  the punters.
This also helps them indivuduay at home, by also rehearsing in front of say a dressing table mirror to pick up on thier own performance.

The characterization work you've done so far will definitely be valuable when the actors relax.

How old are the actors? If they're old enough, you should all go out for a few drinks. If not, go out for dinner. Give them the opportunity to relax around each other and not think and work so much.

I recently directed Neil LaBute's Bash, which, like your play, is very static, with almost no staging. Even thought it is a very heavy drama, my cast absolutely benefitted from time spent just hanging out with each other.