With Lane Teilhaber, director of Beau Jest, the priority for the actors was blocking first, characterization second and memorizing lines last. Lane did not want us to concentrate on line memorization until after we had blocking down. Lane moved consecutively through the script; All of Act I Scene 1, then Act I Scene 2, everyone present.
Well each director has there own method of directing. For The Man Who Came To Dinner, director Mary Binaco is no exception.
For The Man Who Came To Dinner, there is one main presence on the stage for most of the play and that is WHITESIDE. There are many other roles that come in and out during the play. Mary has been taking the smaller roles and going over each of there parts individually with WHITESIDE. For my character, DR. BRADLEY, we went over all his major appearances, skipping over all other parts in between.
Last night we continued that method but the focus was on MAGGIE. Most of MAGGIE’s parts ended where DR. BRADLEY’s began. So, rehearsal went from WHITESIDE and MAGGIE into WHITESIDE and DR. BRADLEY in one large chunk. Skip to the next MAGGIE area and continue.
In the mean time, Mary would like for us to have as many lines memorized as possible so we can concentrate on the blocking. Mary is also surrounded by yellow notepad papers with notes. And she seems to be always thinking about and analyzing the script. Tweaking.
I am not complaining or really meaning to compare. As far as I know, me being a newbie and all, there is no wrong way to direct. These are merely observations; A note of my experiences.