Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1979 - 29

~~~~~~~~~~~JM_ed_Sa_'~_ma_n_Book

The Staging Handbook by Francis Reid. New York: Theatre Arts
Books, 1978, ISBN 0-87830-160-7, 160 pp., hardbound, $10.45.

Francis Reid's latest handbook is at once engaging and deceptively valuable. Amidst the witty observations on all-too-familiar situations and personalities, Reid has developed an excellent outline of
the staging process-a process which integrates "all the technical
apparatus of the stage" with "the previously rehearsed acting performance." The information contained in this book is not everything
that the prospective producer has always wanted to know. In fact, it
covers everything that producers, directors, designers, technical directors, production managers and stage managers ought to, and
most likely do know about the "shoulds" of staging, but promptly
forget in the intense effort to get a show ready to open.
Reid touches on all the areas of technical staging and the various
art forms to which staging is applied in a simple and deliberate
manner. As a handbook, this work is necessarily cursory in its depth,
but it is inclusive in its breadth. An expert in each of the specific fields
that Reid discusses could point to much more thorough reference
sources written by Burris-Meyer and Cole, Gillette, Bellman, Russell,
Corson, Collison and Stern. But it is not Reid's intent to replace other
works. Rather he has produced, in succinct outline, a reiteration of all
the preparatory work necessary before the set-in of a theatrical
production, and a clear path to guide the show from first tech to
opening. If every member of a production team would read this book
and act accordingly before the highly emotional and compressed
period that precedes opening night, there would be much less coffee
consumed, sleep lost, deodorant spoiled and hair torn out.
Reid's basic theories are not brilliantly deduced, not startling, not
even new. His message is that of the voice of experience. He constantly recommends through preparation and organization, and the
need for charts, plots, lists and other assorted paperwork in every
aspect of production-budgeting, scheduling, setting up, performing
and striking. When this planning is combined with an understanding
of basic personnel psychology ("controlling people not things") the
harried atmosphere so often associated with technical and dress
rehearsals can be dissipated, unforeseen problems can be minimized and dealt with calmly and the artists can rest secure that the
craftsmen have enhanced their esthetic endeavour.
This handbook is laid out logically. After brief chapters that touch
on the overall organization involved in staging, and some clever
semantic agility in differentiating the tasks associated with various
job titles, Reid discusses the separate departments of the production
team-stage management, scenery, props, lighting, sound and wardrobe. His brief descriptions of various theatrical conditions and
equipment that are lying in wait to snare the unsuspecting are delightful (and so true!). His text sometimes suffers from a problem of
proportion (the section on fly systems is four times the length of the
section on lighting control). yet he succeeds in defining both the
familiar and the aberrant in the complex operation and manipulation
of theatre space, equipment, procedures and personnel.
Reid falters somewhat in seemingly reducing the staging processes of the various presentation arts to cogent catch-phrases. The
musical differs from the play in scale; the opera represents the
problems of repertoire; dance involves simplified scenery and angular lighting; light entertainment exacerbates the degree of integration
between segments of an evening's presentation; tours bring out an
"us and them" disparity between roadies and locals; one-nightstands represent a need to be ready for anything; amateur productions are scaled down versions of the professional. In an effort to find
USITT/Spring, 1979

Reviews

a handle for treating the differences between these forms, Reid has
spent too much time describing the handles.
This is, of course, a British publication. But the differences are
minimal. Only in the terminology and the bibliography is this foreign
origin noticeable. The biggest disappointment is the book's bibliography. It is limited to British and joint British-American distributions.
By failing to augment Reid's suggestions, his American representatives have reduced the value of his book to the Americans who might
most benefit from it. Theatrical professionals will recognize that the
list for further reading represents British publications. Amateurs, who
can gain tremendously from the other sections of the book, are not
referred to the best works from this side of the Atlantic. On the other
hand, Reid's terminology is succinct and clear. His inclusion of American (and Australian) terms, both in the text and the glossary, promote easy understanding. In fact, the difference in terminology
serves to remind us of the color that is sometimes lost in American
verbiage, cf. howlround (audio feedback), tal/escape (hijacker), and
get-out (load out).
For its price, the book is decidedly worth purchasing by all professionals and serious amateurs engaged in the staging process. The
clearly delineated descriptions of processes, places and people are
forever useful. An experienced hand might find little new in this work,
but this reviewer would like to suggest that the information contained
therein, whether garnered from years of experience, from a multitude
of other technical theatre publications, or from Reid's The Staging
Handbook, is the responsibility of every person in any position of
theatrical authority. Those ignorant or forgetful of these most basic
ideas ought to be summarily executed at dawn or at the end of
lighting call, whichever comes earlier.
Tony Courtade

Theatre Games by Clive Barker. New York: Drama Book Specialists
(Publishers), 1977, ISBN 0-910482-93-4 pbk, 218pp., illus., $6.95.

Clive Barker has written Theatre Games to describe his approach
to helping actors cope with the obstacles they most commonly face.
He sees their major difficulties as the resistance of the body to new
patterns of movement, the translation of the intention of the mind to
physical activity, and the repeated creation of the illusion of the first
time. Twenty years of experience as a director and actor in university
and professional theatre in England and on the continent have convinced him that the actor's approach to overcoming these obstacles
should be through physical experience of himself in action-through
interacting rather than intellectualizing.
Barker came to this approach by consciously looking for training
methods that would be pleasurable as well as practical. His own
experience as a young actor had been harrowing. The harder he
worked the more blocked he became and, inevitably, under stress,
the worse his performance became. He saw many actors suffer physical and mental anguish in preparing for their roles. However, as he
worked in warm-up classes at Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop,
he realized that participation in childhood games released psychic
and physical tension. Since then Barker has systematized a theory
and practice of games designed to serve the actor. Theatre Games
offers his account of the theory behind the games, detailed instructions on playing the games, and a discussion of the acting skills which
may result from them.
The book is addressed to directors and teachers because Barker
Theatre Design & Technology

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Spring 1979