Ahead of the Manoel Theatre’s series of newly launched projects, Peter Farrugia talks with acclaimed UK director Pete Harris.
The Manoel Theatre’s new Youth Theatre (launched under the educational initiative Toi Toi) is opening its doors to a new generation of aspiring performers with a variety of opportunities in acting, filmmaking and musical theatre.
The mistake most people make about directing is to think that a director tells people what to do
As part of the programme, director Pete Harris will deliver a workshop that explores audition techniques in light of his experiences collaborating with some of the UK’s foremost theatres.
“I began to dedicate myself to my craft once I’d directed my first performance Play It Again, Sam, a play by Woody Allen. I directed it while I was still a student and within six months I was the assistant director at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park. That led to work directing 20 shows over the next three years.”
Harris’ first visit to Malta was over a decade ago when he gave a summer workshop alongside Denise Mulholland, the Manoel Theatre’s Youth Theatre principal tutor.
“It was completely mad and I’d never staged such a large amount of material in such a short space of time. I think we survived on three hours sleep per night, lots of wine, cigarettes and a huge amount of Maltese enthusiasm.”
“In terms of what excites me about these kinds of projects, it’s difficult to say because each one is so different.”
Harris talks about the challenges posed by any good play or musical, and the effort involved in getting to grips with the world within the text and the characters who people it.
“Only when that world has become clearer,” says Harris, “can you begin to try to invent ways of getting the actors to fill the world together”.
Just as vital as directorial authority are the actors’ personalities. “A director spends 95 per cent of their time working very closely with the actors so it’s essential that they are open, engaged, and able to work freely.”
Harris is clear that the director should always nurture an actor’s excitement for the play, filling them with all its untapped potential. By supplying a rich and complex sense of who the characters are and how the actors’ bodies and imaginations can create a response to the script, they allow themselves the space to really engage with a scene.
“A director engages actors in a process, I don’t aim for results. Any teacher who has tried to teach results rather than getting the pupils engaged in the material will know exactly what I mean. And any pupil who has felt stripped of their own ideas and opinions, rather than being stimulated and engaged by the material, will really know what I mean.”
When it comes to a specific style that sets his work apart, Harris is hesitant to single out anything in particular. There’s a conscious effort not to allow preoccupations and signature ideas to obscure the work.
“Although having said that, I am quite precise with the way I approach any piece of theatre. And the personalities and ideas of the actors, the creative team, will all shape how we understand the play and so I have to encourage freedom to allow this to happen.”
Harris does not see the imposition of one over-arching vision as a director’s ultimate goal. Rather, it’s developing creative ways to bring out relationships and inhabit an artificial situation with subtle and vibrant life. While directorial decisions are final, Harris maintainsthat theatre must be rooted in a community perspective.
Asked about motivating students with an interest in theatre, Harris believes that many of them are already well on their way to developing a clear sense of themselves.
“They’ve spent a lot of time and energy trying to get to drama school or in a production,” he says, “however that motivation can evaporate surprisingly quickly if you don’t harness their creative potential”.
“The mistake most people make about directing is to think that a director tells people what to do, where to move, how a line should be said, what they should be feeling – but that’s simply bad directing. Good actors don’t need help with these things and can get rather fed up if you impose everything on them.”
Harris looks forward to working with students in collaboration with the Manoel’s Youth Theatre and Rosetta De Battista, the theatre’s Arts Education consultant.
“The huge energy that young people have, which can so often go into destructive or unhealthy activities if not channelled properly, can be harnessed by the theatre because of its immediacy. The actor is the prime element of a performance and it’s our job to make work that young people want to be part of, and if we do, they’ll work tirelessly and dynamically.”
Auditions for the Manoel Theatre acting troupe will be held on March 24 and a workshop with Pete Harris will be held on March 25.
For more information, visit www.teatrumanoel.com.mt.