The Director/Designer relationship - an insider's take

Being an emerging anything in Theatre is hard enough. I have alot of empathy for those trying to direct thier own work, at least with design the show usually exists before your name is on the contact sheet. Directors often have to be the instigator of thier own credits, and very early work often ignores the role of a designer as we are seen as superfluous additions. That in turn means a lot of emerging Directors have very little experience working with a designer at the beginning of their career. I've had many a chat with fellow designers about the woes of working for new Directors who've not trained under the technical theatre umbrella, so here's some advice compiled the help of colleagues of all creative disciplines for fledgling Directors or Producers as to how best to get the most out of your creative relationship.


No 1 - TRUST. 


We get it, this show is important to you, we really do, but if you've chosen the right Designer it will be important to us too. I sometimes joke to myself before every show the Director should fall back and let the Designer catch them. A cliched metaphor but none the less representative of how designers can often be left to feel. We have trained for as many years as you, sometimes longer. We really want to make the best of our role in contribution to yours.

No 2 - COMMUNICATION.

 This is beginning to sound like a relationship advice column but the director/designer relationship is just that. Training varies hugely in the design sphere but the one thing designers love are initial responses to be spring boards for inspiration. These come in any shape or form, from words and feelings you associate with the play, to lines from the text, to a piece of music that you feel is relevant or a photograph that you cant help but want to look at. Shared Pinterest boards are a god send. Theatre design is about using space, light, sound, objects, colour, music, shape and texture to generate the world of the play and often to evoke an emotional response from the audience towards it. Designers design from emotion, as the actors will use their bodies and tone of voice to deliver a line to mean something specific, we will use what we have to give the same idea, but we need to know what you want most for that idea to be. This extends to the whole run, if you don't like something just talk to us, but if you haven't given us any form of opinion up to that point, you can't expect to get what you want.

No 3 - FREEDOM 

We don't need (or want) you to know exactly what the show will look like, we don't even know what the show will look like at the begging, that's the point, you have to allow us the freedom to use our visual/auditory/technical brains to answer the same questions you will be working out with the script. Rufus Norris said in a Guardian interview that the biggest myth about directing is that you have 'a vision': 'I surround myself with smart people, and I make decisions. There's nothing visionary in that'. Another director once told me she couldn't describe her bedroom to me, she just didn't have the capacity for visual imagination. Directors come in all shapes and sizes but I've learnt that it's very possible to have the more text orientated brains amungst you struggle to visualise, but that should never be a hurdle for your relationship with your designer. Anything is better than nothing, we cannot mind read, but we can take the smallest of words or feelings and create total worlds from them. 

No 4 - DESIGN MEETINGS

Before you start rehearsals, talk to the designer as much as possible to give them the best understanding of your understanding, take trips to locations/see relevant shows together. Yes we aren't directing but we don't just see as far as our discipline, the best designs are when you can't tell where the performance ends and the design begins, I would put money on those shows coming from a collaborative relationship between the creatives. You don't have to take on all our ideas, it's your show after all, but you might be surprised how ingenious and good at problem solving your designer might be when their mind isn't full of the entire script.



No 5 - AWARENESS. 

One of the best bits of advice I was ever heard was from a designer who was having trouble with the construction of his design. He had to send some tense emails and speak to producers in order to have an aspect rectified. He said  'In the end, it's going to be my name next to the word 'Design''. We are always aware that we are risking our reputation on each show, either as our 'really great to work with' one or our actual design rep. Harking back to the trust point, this is our work up for scrutiny as much as yours and if anyway along the process we feel we've lost control of that, it will only impact badly on us. 


No 6 - KNOWING OUR ROLE. 

Good stage managers, production managers and costume supervisors are gold dust. Fact. I know the chances of emerging directors having the budget for these roles is rare, but on behalf of all designers, if you can, get them. Designers that grow up through fringe spend a lot of time on shows doing the role of about 5 different people. In the past, under the title of 'Designer' i've been: a carpenter, a graphic designer, a scenic artist, a props buyer & maker, a production manager, a costume maker and even (on a rare never-to-be-repeated time) a performer. This puts our stress levels very high, having a shit-hot SM or PM means these roles are shared and even taken away from us, which as it often never really should have been ours in the first place, makes for a much smoother ride. Designers will have extra skills and they will often be more than happy to share them for the good of the show, but three years of a degree is just about long enough to teach you the skills of the design role, so understandably it's remarkably difficult to be amazing at all of the above. 


No 7 - UNDERSTANDING OUR PROCESS (and letting us have ownership of it).

I don't expect every director I work with to know exactly what I do, lots of it will be done far away from their gaze, it is also very common for directors to be very involved in the design process up to the start of rehearsals than get totally lost in the acting from then on. What is important is that the director understand the needs of the designer in creating thier combined vision and vice versa. It certainly shouldn't be one way either, the designer should keep the director involved and up to date, every Dir/Des is different and will have their own way of working, the best thing is for both sides to know and understand the others ways. Some designers (myself included) find being present in rehearsals a hugely helpful part of understanding the show's trajectory, others prefer to deliver a concept through their own journey. It takes a few shows to really get the dynamic of the relationship, so persevere till you find your balance, that's often when the trust and organic growth comes too.

No 8 - KEEPING US IN THE LOOP (aka) Updates from the rehearsal room. 

It is so important to keep the design team up to date with rehearsals. Stage management notes will do this but if you only have one stage manager and their running around finding props, just remember to let us know. Text, email, message in a bottle will do, anything to prevent our eye brow raised look of blind fury/surprise that we will do at the next production meeting when you talk about 'that new door that's going to be on the left'. 



Where to find us: If you are thinking of engaging a designer for the first time and you have no idea where to start, firstly, ask around, everyone knows everyone in this business. Secondly contact the schools, HERE is a list of the undergraduate courses, also arts jobs and ideas tap isn't a bad start either. Just make sure you meet them and have a good chat about what kind of theatre you like, don't just go off websites and portfolios.

Also, HERE is a great blog post from the director's point of view about the design relationship.

For the sake of very newbie theater teams, these are some rough role break downs. The bigger the shows the more jobs roles there are and they become even more specified, but the good thing is that if you are directing a big show, there are people who take the responsibility of finding those people out of your hands:

The Set/Costume Designer: Sometimes separate, Set & Costume designers, through conversations with the director/choreographer create the stage design for the production. Set designers will create a model box of the stage and make a scale model of the intended set with technical drawing, this often goes through a process of white card and final card model where the changes and alterations emerge as the show evolves. The costume designer will create drawings for the characters costumes*. The Set & Costume Designer will present their work to the production team and then the Cast (usually at the beginning of rehearsals).

*sometimes:  depending on the budget/style of the show (especially if its modern day and there's no money) costumes can something be that are devised through the rehearsal, actors very often have strong feelings as to what their characters will wear. It is a designers job to design the play and have their name by the word design, but that doesn't mean we wont always take on board the thoughts given to us.

Costume Supervisor: This role depends on the scale of the show, smaller shows will mean the supervisor is key to buying/renting/sourcing costumes and will have some making experience. Sometimes they will employ costume makers on top of this to realise the designs.

Lighting Designers: These will create the lighting plan for the show. They work closely with the director and set designer and tell the story through shape and light as the set designer tells it through space and structure (in fact, we both do both). Lighting designers make set designers look good. They control the final visual look of the show and are as imaginative a story teller as you are.

Sound Designers: Not to be confused with Composers, a sound designer will use their knowledge and talent to help place the locations in the world of the play. Sound will often be more subtle than set and can often (combined with lighting) suggest/change a location through the magic of theatre quicker and more brilliantly than any set change. 

Stage Managers: There are so many variants of the stage manger title (assistant/company/deputy etc) but again, with the smaller shows there is usually only one stage manager and are likely to have been trained to assist the Set Designer on sourcing the props and furniture for the production. Good stage managers are often the difference between a smooth production and a car crash of a show.

Production Manager: These are the guys that take the design and work out how to get it on stage and working. From carpet samples to chippies, the Production Manager will be the person who schedules and organises the get in and the get out. They often have links to the workshop if you are having a set built off site or know a plethora of set builders and scenic artists to bring in if you are building on. They are often the role that once you have one, you cant quite work out how you managed without them.