Fifty Key Theatre Directors (review)

Scholars writing about directors often focus on those whom they consider to be the great figures in the field; or, as David Richard Jones says in Great Directors at Work, "monarchs of the profession" (1). While a good number of these renowned directors' careers have been suitably recognized, many other significant artists, who are less well known, have not garnered the recognition they deserve. Fortunately, Fifty Key Theatre Directors, a new addition in the Routledge Key Guide series, goes some way toward rectifying this oversight.

With this study, editors Shomit Mitter and Maria Shevtsova offer a collection of short essays by eighteen scholars that provides a broader representation of directors and their variant crafts while at the same time giving its subjects more in-depth treatment than the typical biographical dictionary. Although many well-known "monarchs" are featured among its pages, the editors also include many more obscure (though equally noteworthy) figures. Throughout, they make room for the collaborator as well as the single-minded visionary, the democrat as well as the autocrat.

Mitter and Shevtsova leave their selection criteria deliberately mysterious, stating in their introduction that they "wanted an intriguing mixture of gender, and of older and newer figures in the field" (xvii). Their book brings together a variety of international directors who work in the West, and includes figures from the late nineteenth century, such as Parisian André Antoine, through the contemporary, such as Catalan Calixto Bieto. Selecting only fifty artists from this period is unquestionably challenging. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that there are important directors missing. Belasco, Granville-Barker, Barrault, Guthrie, and Kazan are among the many familiar names left out. The eclectic collection includes prominent theoreticians, as well as artistic directors of state-sponsored arts organizations and artists who devoted their careers to small-scale avant-garde productions.

In the introduction, the editors declare their intention to be "more analytical than descriptive" (xvii). As such, they eschew biographical and production histories in favor of fleshing out the relationship between ideas and practice. By centering on "the heart of a body of work" (xvii), they allow the reader to trace theoretical influences and compare techniques between the included subjects. This structure and approach allow a reader to look at Antoine or Max Reinhardt alongside Peter Schumann or Joanne Akalaitis, and to trace shifts in attitudes about directorial authority. Similarly, the reader may compare Jacques Copeau or Deborah Warner to Tadeusz Kantor or Robert Wilson in order to see stark variations in approaches to text. When a career is marked by major shifts—as in the case of Konstantin Stanislavsky or Peter Stein—the editors allow room to explain changing concerns and how these affected rehearsal and production.

Descriptions of select, significant productions, such as Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko's The Brothers Karamazov or Neil Armfield's Cloudstreet, highlight key points in the artistic development of the directors. It is at these points in the text that the reader most regrets the absence of illustrations. Given the low price of the book, the omission of photographs is hardly surprising. Nonetheless, it is impossible not to consider it a disadvantage, particularly for student readers.

The subjects are arranged chronologically, which facilitates tracing influences and making comparisons between contemporaries. Additionally, an alphabetical list of names follows the table of contents, making the book suitable for reference purposes as well. A comprehensive index to individuals, play titles, theatres, locations, and common topics of concern to directors follows the final entry.

The language of Fifty Key Directors is appropriate for an audience of undergraduate or graduate students, and the book would be a useful addition to academic performing arts collections. While it would serve as a suitable companion volume for any number of courses, it is essentially a reference book, not a textbook, and as such does not allow opportunities for addressing social and political...