Emerald Coast Theatre Consultant

Early on in my career I had the opportunity to work with the Cantor at the local synagogue.  His theatrical education was in the Jewish Theatre in NYC.  He had performed on Broadway and proved it by hauling out a large tome, turning to a well-worn page, and, sure enough, there he was! 

He was part and parcel of my theatrical education and a source until he retired and, with his wife, and moved North to the Seattle area to be near his children. 

I cannot imagine my life without his guidance, not only in theatre subjects, but in Jewish subjects and generally in life as well.   If I had a problem with a scene that was not communicating to the audience, he would come in, listen and pinpoint exactly the problem.  He had the professional objective ear that anyone caring to grow and develop could count on to right and incorrect reading or fine tune a bit of staging. 

I had the privilege and the honor to direct this man twice as Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof.   What an education that was not only for me, but also for the entire company.   He tied our rehearsals together like a neat package of joy every night and made the entire process of producing the play a joy every night and made it a learning experience for all of us.  But I get ahead of myself.  

Anyhow, shortly after I arrived at my first directing job where he was a board member, he and his wife came out of the current production and he heard me ask someone if they like the show.   I forget what they said, but I will always remember what he said:  “Never ask anyone what they think, Gordon.  It says more about you than they need to know!”  Then, after they left a few minutes later, he invited me for coffee and a bagel the next day.    Now that was a meeting I will never forget. 

The next morning, out the back door of the temple following the alley one street over we trudged to nosh a bit!   

Oh, my, how that man loved to share his knowledge with anyone who knew how to listen.   Fortunately, my nurses training had taught me to shut up when someone smarter than I was would speak.   I knew how to do that very well and came prepared with one of  those legal-sized tablets that lawyers use and several ball-point pens.   

He started out sharing with me how in the theatre, either in audience or anyone working in the theatre, considers themselves critics.   

Why, you might ask?   I’ll tell you! 

Because the theatre is about human relationships with all the various subtleties and not so subtlety, everyone, because they are living a life, feels that they are wise enough to criticize in the theatre.   And with that both he and I totally agreed.   

The real kicker is that what people might not recognize is that there is a difference between seeing a problem and correcting a problem.   And if someone says well, I thought you/they should have done such and such, well, that is a playwright’s problem.   And they will go on to say: They should have done such and such.   Well, that is where he stopped.    He said to me something that has been my benchmark to keep learning and growing the years I have worked in the theatre:   ”Hear all criticism of your work, Gordon, but listen to only those people you know have the background, the education, the experience, and the talent to help you.   Do not let criticism from a novice or a self-appointed critic get into your head, ever.” 

So, after years of directing play after play after play, now, when some one comes up and tells me what they like or don’t like about a particular production, I smile and listen attentively, recording exactly what they are saying, and, when they are through, I simply say:  “Thank you for coming to the theatre.  We appreciate you!” 

Now that doesn’t mean that I just discard anything anyone might say, but as I say to my actors when I am directing them,   “If I say or suggest anything to you, do not accept, blindly, my input into your performance.   Think about it, challenge it, agree with or don’t agree with it, but examine it in terms of what that criticism could do to your performance good or bad.” 

Most actors do not want to spend time thinking.  They just want to feel.  And that is all well and good, but when it comes to criticism, a little thinking on everyone’s part is a valuable use of time. 

Now I could go on and on about critics and who they are and what they do and experiences I have had with them, but suffice it to say that, in my opinion, a good critic is worth their weight in gold to the educated, talented, sensitive directors who care about a production and the growth of the actors under his wing who are going to carry the playwright’s work to the audience.    That is, after all, the job of the director, to get the play to the audience in the best possible condition he can muster.

Having seen every production of Macbeth that the Stratford Festival has produced since it’s inception, I have to admit that I the idea of seeing yet another view of this play gave pause.   However, with Colm Feore playing the lead, that alone convinced me to attend.  

Unfortunately, this production did not appear to be completely thought out by the director.   Staged well but very limp in the characterization of two critical characters: Macbeth and Macduff. 

Years ago I saw a Young Company production where the audience, by the second “Tomorrow”, moaned so loudly you could not hear the rest of the reading.   It was embarrassing to hear that at the Festival.

The skill of actor Feore, standing center stage leaning back on a desk for support not moving a muscle, read this same speech to an audience that listened quietly.   His ability saved this questionable production hands down.  And I wondered how this would affect Macduff’s characterization.  Well, it did, big time!   Poor Macduff turned into a wimp!  

What should it have been?   There was another production of Macbeth directed by Martha Henry at the Patterson where Peter Hutt was playing Macduff.  Let me tell you, that was a characterization and a half.

Flash back with me to a year or two for a moment.   I had just seen Peter Hutt and Patrick Galligan in Rosmersholm the day before at the Court House Theatre at the Shaw Festival.   They were sitting on a couch waiting for the show to begin and we approached them and said how much we enjoyed Rosmersholm.   They were both very gracious but when I said to Peter that I had seen him at Stratford, he asked what I liked.   I told him “Your Macduff!”   He looked surprised.   What I remembered so vividly was the anger at losing his family and the obvious thought of revenge.  It was truly one of the finest portrayals of any character I have ever seen.   It redefined anger and revenge and hate and retribution.  Well, just a host of exploding emotion.  It was a truly memorable Macduff.

But this Macbeth was not a memorable production. Unfortunately.

There is one place that rehearsal for a play must never take place:  On Stage.

In the professional theatre world, rehearsal space is at a premium.   Renting a rehearsal area is the norm.   

In the amateur world, it is the norm to rehearse onstage, primarily because the amateur director thinks that everything he is doing is for the audience’s benefit.  Of course it is!   But let me give you an example.

If you were going to bake a cake, would you mix the cake batter and then throw in the ingredients that make up the frosting that should be added after the cake is baked, cooled and ready to frost.   I think not.   What you would get is a real mess of a cake regardless of how much you might hope and pray that  the frosting would somehow be able to hold it’s own and rise to the surfrace of the cake when it finishes baking.

The same applies to rehearsing a play.   On the chart that I posted, the job of the director is to take the play from the playwright and deliver it to the audience.   Period.  

Rehearsing in the performance space adds the audience to the play long before the play is ready.   The professionally trained actor with experience can handle it, but the amateur cannot.   Now, that doesn’t mean that an amateur can’t be directed that way, nor does it mean that all professional actors can accomplish that, but as a rule of thumb:   Don’t rehearse where you are going to present until the start of the technical rehearsals where the spectacle of the show is coming together.   

The amateur director will make excuse after excuse for not doing that (no space, not the way I work, etc. etc.) because they see the audience as the reason for everything that they do.   But if you divide to conquer, then you will see that rehearsing with the fourth wall in place and directing the play to stand by itself, you are giving the audience it’s best gift:   The chance to see the play without being challenged by a bunch of actors all standing in a quarter position talking to each other.     Do we stand like that?   I think not.

More on the dreaded quarter position on a later post!

Gordon Goede was the Founding and Artistic Director of Theatre Three Repertory Company in Fresno, California. He earned his B. A. degree in Speech and Drama at Jacksonville University, Jacksonville, Florida and did graduate work at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena California.

In 1963 he became Managing Director of the Fresno Community Theatre in Fresno, California. During his nine-year tenure he designed and directed 54 productions on the main stage, including widely known comedies, dramas, and Broadway musicals In 1967 he initiated the Fresno Community Theater Children’s Theater, directing additional children’s productions each year until 1972.

In 1973 Gordon formed Theatre Three Repertory Company. During this same period, he returned to his first vocation, the practice of anesthesia. He had previously received his Nurses Training at Bellevue Hospital in New York City and his anesthesia training at Luther Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He spent the next 38 years giving anesthesia service at Sierra Hospital and Valley Medical Center in Fresno and then retired from his medical profession. During this same period, he also continued to produce and direct at Theatre Three as its Artistic Director.

From his arrival in Fresno in 1963 until his retirement in 2004, he produced and directed in excess of 325 productions ranging from Broadway musicals to Pulitzer Prize-winning comedies and dramas including several notable opera productions for local opera as well as directing “La Boheme” for the renowned Music From Bear Valley Festival in Bear Valley, California. In October of 2000, The Fresno Arts Council honored him with the “horizon award” recognizing his years of excellence in service to the community.

Late in 2004, Gordon decided the time had come to retire. He now lives in Florida and is available for directing and consulting in oral interpretation, acting, directing, stage and theatre design, and Theatre management.