Directing, as the organization and creative direction of a play, has always existed in theater, and every play throughout the history of theater has been organized and directed by someone. But there has not always been a director’s profession, and his functions were often performed by the first actor or author of the play, or the director of the theater.
Adolph Winds, a renowned historian of directing, considers the existence of directing functions as early as the creation of ancient theater productions. He believes that it was the responsibility of the chorus director to organize the actions of the chorus, and to establish the nature of the numbers it performed, the movements and dances. And this presenter he calls the director.
Winds suggests that his function was not only to be a choir director, but also a kind of capellist, and also to teach the character of speech, because the chorus spoke in tune, definitely moving and acting in rhythm. According to Winds, this person in the ancient tragedies (if he was not the dramatist) also prepared everything necessary for the equipment of the play, everything that might appear on the scenery “skene.
In the Roman theater, where the scenery was much more complex than the later Greek ones, and the costume and wigs had evolved considerably in comparison with that in the ancient Greek theater, where there were mass scenes, fights, water battles, colossal circus processions, where the action was accompanied by pantomimes, a huge number of all kinds of theatrical effects and machines, the stage manager also stood out, although he had no special name in the Roman theater.
It would be naïve to suppose that in the construction of medieval mystery plays, in which up to five hundred people participated, there was no organizer and leader of the whole action. These elaborate performances were based not only on sacred poetry and church literature, but also made use of folk songs, dances, jugglers, acrobatics, and clowning in their opening acts, in which along with Christian and mythological themes, themes from novels, courtly lyrics, and narrative literature, comic scenes reflecting the manners and lives of townspeople were inserted.
After the text was produced, by editing a number of versions of the mystery itself, the director – the head of the “game” – had to build a system of publicity for the upcoming celebration. It is known that a few months before the performance, theatrical processions were organized in the city, during which a herald shouted to the population that a certain version of the mystery was going to be staged and that those who wished to take part in it should come to the town hall. A few days before the performance, there was a “show” of all the participants in the mystery in costume with the appropriate accessories.
On the day of the performance, heralds at crossroads were to announce the beginning of the performance. Ways had to be arranged to attract the attention of the audience. It was necessary to deal with the technical equipment of moving live pictures, to build this or that type of scenery, to organize effects, for example, flying through the air, the image of moving animals, spectacular costumes, finally, to train the performers of the roles in certain techniques of action. All this was done by the director of the performance, who, as is known from a number of miniatures, was in the middle of the action scene during the performance with a rod in one hand and a copy of the play in the other. He wore a long robe and a high hat. With his rod he indicated to the actors or musicians when they should begin and when they should end their performances.
We know, furthermore, that in France there were a number of organizations engaged in the production of farces. They united craftsmen or officials of a particular profession, or were a citywide organization. Since these farces also required carnival processions in masquerade costumes to advertise the forthcoming performances, and since these farces were satirical attacks on the city patricians and feudal lords, it was necessary to organize all this skillfully. There is no doubt that this was done by a knowledgeable person who, while repeating traditions in such productions, at the same time introduced features of original satire that were interesting in certain conditions of place and time.
During the Renaissance, professional actors began to organize partnerships. Theater was taken out of the hands of the church. This was the case in France, in Italy, in England. At the head of such an artel was an experienced professional, the first actor or director. At this period in the history of the theater, no one any longer doubts that in the organization of professional performances needed a person who would have an excellent understanding of what repertoire might be more suitable for the area and the time when the performances of this artel were given. Consequently, he was not only a performer of roles, but also a person who took care of the repertoire, the modest closet, props, etc.