Kenneth Rea
1989

£8.50 + p&p, 200 pp
ISBN 978 0 903319 49 2
Buy from Central Books

A Better Direction provides a unique insight into the ways directors entered their profession and how they cope with the rigorous demands of a job most of them were not trained for. The research for the Enquiry took a year and a half and evidence was taken from more than a thousand people, including Sir Peter Hall, Dame Judi Dench, Dr Jonathan Miller, Richard Eyre, Jack Gold, Peter Brook, Trevor Nunn and Sir Richard Attenborough, making it the most thorough investigation of the profession ever conducted in Britain.

After providing a detailed profile of the director in theatre, film and television, supported by new statistics, the report considers the issues of training, asking whether formal training is really necessary. The existing provisions for director training in Britain are examined and compared with training solutions abroad. Finally, a set of realistic solutions is put forward that could radically transform the approach to director training in Britain.

Kenneth Rea began as a professional actor and director in New Zealand. Although there was no training for directors, he learnt much from the late Tony Richardson, artistic director of the Mercury Theatre, Auckland, and former director of the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry. At the age of 23 he formed his own company, The Living Theatre Troupe.

In 1976 he came to Britain where he has continued to direct. In addition to his regular teaching at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he has conducted workshops for a number of theatres, including the Royal Shakespeare Company, as well as teaching abroad. Articles and reviews on radio and TV and for numerous periodicals and journals