Critically comment on a variety of roles, responsibilities and functions in the performing arts providing explanations for how they interrelate:
The Director will interpret the script in his or her own way and decide how they want it and what they want then they will brief the design team with ideas. The design team being Set Designer, Lighting Designer, Costume Designer, Sound Designer, Choreographer and Musical Director. Of course this varies depending on the type of production it is, if it is a college performance for example then the director would have students working on costume whereas in a professional theatre that wouldn't be the case.
The directors purpose is to ensure quality and completion of a production and also to help the actors to see their creative potential.
It depends on which theatre company but some directors like to make a lot of the decisions themselves if they have a set idea for everything but others may give the design team a lot more freedom but the end product must reflect on the directors original ideas.
The Director of a production is one of the key figures into getting a show casted and to get it to a decent level for the final production, sometimes the director would also be the scriptwriter and directing a show they have written themselves.
A Director must have a lot of self-motivation because he/she is the one that needs to get everyone together and can't just leave it to someone else so he must strive to get everything done.
A Director must have excellent communication skills to interact with the actors and also to be able to put across his ideas in a clear way.
A Director must have team working skills so he can work efficiently with a large number of actors.
A Director must be able to motivate to keep people reassured of the shows and their own performance.
Set Designer
The set designer will now have to think about what the director wants and look at costs if there is a budget, for example if the director wants a rotating stage then the Set Designer will have to look at costs and see if it is possible to meet his requirements.
The set designer works around the context, theme and genre that the director wants to convey across the piece and then works around this to create the set. The set designer will also work closely with the lighting designer to make sure that the set they create will work with the lights for example to make sure a certain light wouldn't wash out the set or make certain detail not visible.
A Set Designer must be creative and be able to express his ideas thoroughly.
A Set Designer must be knowledgeable of the requirements of the relevant Health and Safety legislation and procedures so that they build set that is safe for the actors to use.
A Set Designer must have team working skills so that they can work with the others in the designing team so the end product works together, for example if the set designer did not correspond enough with the lighting designer some of the set they build may not be lit or it might be washed out by certain lights
A Set Designer must be able to practically and creatively solve problems so that if they come across any problems they might be with the director or someone else in the design team, they must be able to solve them quickly and efficiently.
Lighting Designer
The director can work with the lighting designer and explain exactly what they want to happen with the lights and then the LD must make an interpretation and start creating a vision. The lighting designer is familiar with the various types of lighting instruments and their uses. In consultation with the director and the scenic designer, and after watching sufficient rehearsals, the LD is responsible for providing an Instrument Schedule and a Light Plot.
The Director shows the LD the mood, theme, context and Genre of what they want so the LD can work around that and it helps them to create lighting.
He will sit in on rehearsals, watch the show and take notes, when something changes in the music often the LD will make a change in the lighting. They will be thinking about the types of colours to use and also what parts of the stage need to be lit.
Once the lighting director knows how many lighting cues he has he then goes to the drawing board and looks at all the lights the theatre owns and if there is not enough they will rent some. He then decides which light should do which cue and this is normally dependant on which part of the stage the LD wants this light to happen. Once he has planned all of this he then programs it all into the lighting board (which ones come up at what time) and then he writes them as the cues. And then the director will decide when the lights come up and how fast/slow they come up or down.
The Lighting Designer must be creative, (along with all the designing team) so that they can create effective and productive ideas.
The Lighting Designer must be knowledgeable and have the right experience to be able to produce his own and the directors ideas.
The Lighting Designer must be able to work with others so that they can communicate with the rest of the team.
The Lighting Designer must be time efficient because they have a tight schedule that they have to keep to.
Costume Designer
The director shows the Costume Designer their ideas about how they imagine the costume would be and also how the mood, genre, context and theme effects the costume and then the Costume Designer will work with this and start to draw up ideas and thoughts on what is wanted in the piece.
Types of Costume Designer:
Freelance Designers - hired for a specific production by a theatre, dance or opera company, and may or may not actually be local to the theatre they design for.
Residential Designers - hired by a specific theatre, dance or opera company for an extended series of productions.
Academic Designers - holds professorship at a school.
The Costume Designer must be aware of Health and Safety precautions so that the costumes are safe for the Actors to wear.
The Costume Designer must have lots of knowledge and experience of costume and designing, so for example they can create costume that are durable to last a big number of shows
The Costume Designer must have organisation skills to sort out all the designs and keep them under control.
