RESEARCHING THE DIRECTOR

Katie Mitchell was born in the year 1964, raised in Hermintage, Berkshire and was educated at Oakham School where after completion she went to Magdalen College in Oxford to read English (Mitchell, 2008). Her career was inspired partially by the European theatre that was located in the eastern side and the choreographers like Pina Bausch and Siobhan Davies. Her career as a theatre director began from the behind scenes in London at King’s Head Theatre Mitchell, 2008). She later became an assistance director in Royal Shakespeare Company and the Paines Plough where she had a number of early productions of her own company Classics on a Shoestring. Her work has been influenced by the exposure she had in the behind scenes as well as her frequent collaborators who included designer Vicki Mortimer and writer Martin Crimp Mitchell, 2008). Sam Mendes was born in the year 1965 in Reading Berkshire where he was the only child of Peter Mendes a university professor and Valerie Helene who was an author of the children books (Leipacher, 2011). His grandfather Alfred Mendes was a Trinidadian writer. He grew up in Oxfordshire where he attended Magdalen College and Peterhouse Cambridge (Leipacher, 2011). During his stay in Cambridge, he became a member of Marlowe Society where he directed several plays shaping his career into directorship. His influence came in from the school and the various roles he undertook in the Chichester Festival Theatre and later on the Royal National Theatre (Leipacher, 2011).

Katie Mitchell method of directing can be best described as a director who polarizes the viewers like no other. She can also be described as the nearest thing that the British theatre has to an auteur Mitchell, 2008). The director is an artistic one whereby her productions can be described and viewed to be as distinguished through the intensity of emotions, a creative sense of the distinctive world and the realism of acting which forms the signature of her work Mitchell, 2008). Her process of directing involves intensive and long rehearsal periods where she frequently involves psychiatry into the characters. Due to Mendes numerous roles, he was a director at the age of 24 years where he directed the Cherry Orchard (Leipacher, 2011). Mendes has been able to achieve his director role through the artistic work of Donmar Warehouse whereby he was able to transform the very notable theatre venues in London.  In the year 1993 his production was based on a new concept that did differ greatly with the 1966 production that made him receive Olivier Award nominations (Leipacher, 2011). Mendes has also been able to do his work through the collaboration of Bart, William Brohn Antony Ward, and Martin Koch. This collaboration has enabled him to transform director role as there has been an addition of musical materials and the radical change of suits that adds a cinematic feeling (Leipacher, 2011).

Katie Mitchell has successfully directed Waves which is a film that has won her a place a being one of the best directors. Her decision and concept have come from the use of Stanislavski system. The film was a novel where she divided it into dramatic monogues that brought up sophistication and spellbinding in the film Mitchell, 2008). The decision to use striking images was a brilliant adaption of the film making it powerful. Mendes has been able to direct a successful film of American Beauty through his decisions and concepts. Through the plot, there is characterization and cinematography which has been conveyed well (Leipacher, 2011). Mendes has been able to portray the theme of empty promises of materialism which is ideologically trapped in the American dream versus the reality, control of chaos,  loneliness, denial and depression (Leipacher, 2011).

 

 

Reference

Leipacher, M. (2011). Catching the light: Sam Mendes and Simon Russell Beale : a working partnership. London: Oberon Books.

Mitchell, K. (2008). The Director’s Craft: A Handbook of The Theatre. Routledge