The Director's Toolkit

CHAPTER 12 Blocking

 

 

PREPLANNED VS. ORGANIC BLOCKING

Having completed the floor plan and the principal stage pictures for each action unit, the director’s attention turns to the blocking of the show. In many cases, the director follows the initial read-through of the script with one or more rehearsals dedicated to the mechanical blocking, providing the actors with specific actions. This is often referred to as preplanned blocking because the director prepares the blocking prior to the rehearsal to establish a foundation for the physical structure of the play. Other directors prefer not to preplan blocking but to allow the actors to spontaneously decide the actions they feel are most appropriate for the character in the moment. This approach ...