Review Of William Ball's A Sense Of Direction

“If you are not excited about a play, throw it out even if you are offered an immense salary to direct it” (24). One of the many fine quotes that comes out of William Ball’s book, A Sense of Direction. Directors have an extremely difficult task of pushing a production forward. William Ball extends a hand of knowledge of directing using an informal approach. In the Preface he states,”Directing is not an exact science and does not lend itself easily to academic textbook treatment.” There are many elements to being a director and for the most part, they cannot be learned in a book, but in the actual doing. However, William brings up many good recommendations for first time directors. He also brings up important information on the scripts themselves.

Yet, I know that if I was put into a directing position, I would be utterly stressed. This does not mean that I think directing is easy, but more of the means that I would overwork myself more than necessary. The first useful information that I pulled from this book is casting. “Casting is the major decision that a director makes. If you cast correctly, you have done about eighty percent of your work” (37). The two types of casting that is noted in this book are “type” or skill. I have known directors whom “typecast” and according to William Ball, that is an incorrect way of casting. “Always hire the skilled actor. Even though he doesn’t seem the exact type, the skilled actor will always pull you through” (38) From personal observation “typecasting” creates nothing but a mess. The actor that was “typecasted” doesn’t have what it takes, which angers the other actors due to the director focusing all of their attention to that one actor. It’s a waste of time and energy. When directing, casting must be well thought