Minneapolis Rehearsals - by Alfred Rossi

Book Synopsis

Minneapolis Rehearsals: A Study of Tyrone Guthrie's Directorial Artistry delves into the ephemeral and profound art of theatrical direction through a detailed exploration of Tyrone Guthrie's process during the 1963 production of Hamlet at the newly inaugurated Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. This modern-dress production, designed by Tanya Moiseiwitsch, marked the premiere of The Minnesota Theatre Company and reflected Guthrie's mastery in uniting performance, staging, and visual design into a cohesive artistic whole. The book seeks to capture the elusive craft of stage direction, a field that, despite its profound influence on modern theatre, often resists lasting documentation due to the transient nature of live performance.

Through a combination of rehearsal logs, a meticulously compiled promptscript, production photographs, and Moiseiwitsch's design sketches, the author provides a rare glimpse into Guthrie's methodology. As both an actor in the production and Guthrie's assistant, the author blends firsthand observations with later reflections, offering a nuanced view of the director's techniques and the collaborative dynamics of the rehearsal process. This record not only preserves the artistry of Guthrie's direction but also situates him within a lineage of transformative theatre artists, beginning with the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. The work serves as both a tribute to Guthrie's legacy and a practical resource for understanding the craft of theatre direction.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1970.