I've been trying to chase down the essay where David Mamet says he doesn't know precisely what a director does. I suspect it's either in True and False or Theatre. Well rather than try to find it, I hope that you'll just take my word that Mamet said it and I am going to be silly enough to attempt a response.
I'll start by saying that Mamet surely has a good grasp of the technicality of a director's job. He tells the actors where to stand, where to move, how to say their lines. He collaborates with the set designer and the costume designer and the lighting designer and the sound person. He does all these things. But that's a little wordy for someone's job title.
When Mamet made his statement, I think he was answering it the way a philosopher would. I've dabbled a bit in philosophy and I know a popular exercise on Day One of Philosophy 101 is to ask this question: "What is a chair?" A chair is something you sit on, says the young student. Well, you also sit on couches, does that mean a couch is a chair. You can also sit on beds, desk, carpets, sidewalk curbs, stairs, benches, car fenders and bicycles. Are these things chairs too? No, they're not.
The philosophy class would likely debate that question for a long time until someone solved the problem by saying: "A chair is an object that has been purposely designed for the primary purpose of allowing one person to sit down." That's a pretty ironclad definition for a chair.
What does a director do? Well, I think he's the one who has the overarching artistic vision of the play. It it his job to make the actors and behind-the-scene people conform to that vision. As a rule, theatre cannot thrive in chaos. The director brings order to the show.
This seems like an opportune time to mention that I directed a Mamet play once. The Water Engine. It was not well-received by the small town community that had grown accustomed to seeing the Odd Couple and all those stupid British farces where the first ten minutes of the play are nothing but exposition. Probably another reason it failed is that I am a mediocre director at best.
Perhaps I'll write more about my Water Engine experience later.
