Saturday 29 October 2011

Serial Monogamy

I'm in the middle of 6 months working with the same director. Normally I go from project to project with a different boss on each and I've always liked that. In fact, when I started, I couldn't imagine wanting to work with the same person more than once (and there have been a few with whom I've been very glad I haven't had to).

There is a lot to be learnt from working with different people; different styles, different approaches to the music and the art form, different ways of working with artists, and the different teams they have around them. Those differences have always been immensely enjoyable and challenging.

Most of my work over the past, and coming, few years has been with three or four particular directors, and it has been very enjoyable to be part of their teams. I've learnt something tangible from each of them and also felt I have been able to offer something different to each one. There seems to be a silent agreement that I am allowed to see other directors and they are permitted to work with other assistants, but we never speak of them!

The director I am currently working with is someone whose work I have known well and loved since I first became infatuated with opera 25 years ago, and with whom I have had the privilege to work several times over the last 8 years.

During that time I have learnt the benefit of working regularly with the same team. There are a certain amount of short cuts that can be taken because of an awareness of their personalities and knowledge of their style, but most of all I feel I get closer to the nitty gritty of what they are aiming at and feel I am increasingly able to offer them valuable help and utilise my own skills to a good end.

I always feared this would stop me getting my own work as a director and perhaps it has. There is certainly that danger. People assume you are somehow involved full time with each director, living in their pocket, married even, and with a direct line into their inner mind which (sometimes) I know full well they haven't made up yet. Thus all the questions they don't quite dare ask directly to the man himself come flooding to me. People also assume that you are totally satisfied by being close to these great people and that that will have replaced any ambition or creativity one ever had oneself. Well, I'm incredibly lucky and grateful to work with these people and hope to continue to do so, but that isn't the case.

Having said that, I am enjoying these collaborations more and more and feel that they are equipping me with ever more valuable skills. I look forward to each further job and the continued relationship I have with each director. And particularly to the shows which it is my privilege to revive - each is a valuable gift.

I feel as if this time is something of a 'golden time' - either a time that I will look back on and think "that was when things were at their best" or " that was when things really began to happen.". Who knows. Time will tell.



Location:New York

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