Lessons from Georgi Tovstonogov

After many years of searching, I finally received a copy of Georgi Tovstonogov’s book ‘ The Profession of the Stage-Director’ published in 1972. I had it imported from the United States and I have to say that is has already made me smile with recognition so many times that I know I’m really going to enjoy this book. Tovstonogov was a Soviet-era theatre director and he speaks with the voice of long experience working in the art of the stage, but he is quite self-effacing and shows great humility when he writes. I had only opened the first few pages when I was confronted with my first lessons from Georgi. I wanted to share this with you immediately, because I thought it might be of use to some of you.

“Speaking of the way rehearsals should be conducted, I feel that one of the most serious diseases in stage direction today is verbosity. We always seem to be talking non-stop…. We waste a tremendous amount of time on useless talk. As I see it, ideally, our profession would be a silent one… Very often, how I feel after a rehearsal, when I feel satisfied or dissatisfied, depends on the amount of talking I have done. I’ve done a lot of talking, then there’s something wrong: it means I’ve tried to cover up with words the fact that I am not sure what I want in a particular scene”.

How often have we, as directors or actors (or even teachers) considered how much time is spent in rehearsal talking. I don’t discount that conversation, or dialogue is essential to the forward progression, the development of the production of the play. But like Georgi says, it perhaps ‘covers up with words’ the fact that somebody doesn’t know what to do, or where to take the scene. With regards to the rehearsal, the dialogue between director and actors can certainly help to move a scene forward, but it is only through action that the scene can actually progress in its journey of translation from page to stage.

This is the first of the lessons that I would like to share with you from Soviet director Georgi Tovstonogov, it has literally taken me years to get this book, and now I intend to share with you at every possible chance, the wisdom that I find within its pages.