Playwright versus Director: Authorial Intentions and Performance Interpretations

(Hardback)

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Giving equal space to the sanctity of script and the artistic freedom of directors, this book addresses the difficulties encountered by playwrights and directors as they bring a script to the stage. Inspired directors can help a writer of genius turn his play into exciting theatre, but playwrights find that giving directors leeway to interpret and modify text can result in directors' overriding authorial intentions. This book presents the best that has been written by literary theorists on the current definitions of text and attempts to depart from quick rule-of-thumb assessments of the problem. Drawing from definitive articles in literary and theatre journals, part one gives the reader basic concepts and terminology. Interviews with playwrights and directors, showing the complexity of the issue, appear in part two, and part three includes case studies of playwrights and directors who faced production crises. Legal aspects of collaboration are considered in part four. The book concludes with a positive approach and possible solution to the problem.

Reviews

Luere provides a valuable summary of the current debate over the creativity of the director and the freedom to interpret versus the authority of the author's text. The major sections of the book are a variety of workshops and interview materials gathered from contemporary playwrights and directors and five case studies. Of particular value is the general bibliography, which cites myriad works by individuals in and out of the theater and makes the text invaluable. Useful for upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, and faculty.-Choice
"Luere provides a valuable summary of the current debate over the creativity of the director and the freedom to interpret versus the authority of the author's text. The major sections of the book are a variety of workshops and interview materials gathered from contemporary playwrights and directors and five case studies. Of particular value is the general bibliography, which cites myriad works by individuals in and out of the theater and makes the text invaluable. Useful for upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, researchers, and faculty."-Choice

Author Bio

JEANE LUERE, Professor Emeritus at the University of Northern Colorado, has published extensively in the fields of English literature and the humanities. Luere has received grants from the Ford Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and has conducted research on theatre during 13 months at the library of the University of Firenze, Italy, and for 14 months at the University of Teheran, Iran, while teaching humanities at these universities. She has published articles and research in many journals such as Theatre Journal, Studies in American Drama: 1945-Present, and South Atlantic Review. SIDNEY BERGER is Director, School of Theatre, University of Houston and Producing Director, Houston Shakespeare Festival.