The Graft of the Art: 100 Notes on Theatre Directing

by James Grieve

Overview

Theatre is one of the most competitive industries. Formal training is inaccessible to many. So how can you get your foot in the door?

This book reveals the secrets of starting, developing and sustaining a career as a theatre director.

In 100 short, entertaining notes on everything from fundraising to failure, award-winning artistic director James Grieve uncovers the steps you need to supercharge your career. It's not what you know or who you know - it's how much you want to know.

In this entrepreneurial guide you will learn:

- how to get started as a theatre director without formal qualifications
- how to develop your craft on your own terms
- how to navigate every step of production from rehearsal prep to press night
- how to grow as a leader, manager and CEO of your own career
- how to deploy practical techniques and inspirational ideas to sustain you as a director and artistic director

Don't wait for the phone to ring. Get cracking. Be the director of your own destiny. It starts here.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781350526310
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	07/23/2026
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.08(w) x 7.79(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

James Grieve MBE is an award-winning theatre director. He was formerly Artistic Director of Paines Plough from 2010 to 2019, during which time they produced 44 world premieres on tour to 291 places across the UK and internationally, by playwrights including Mike Bartlett, James Graham, Kae Tempest, Tom Wells, Penelope Skinner, Elinor Cook, Nick Payne, Anna Jordan, Brad Birch, Marie Jones and Sam Steiner. In 2014 Paines Plough launched Roundabout, the world's first pop-up plug-and-play theatre to tour new plays to underserved places. James Grieve has also served as Associate Director of the Bush Theatre and is the founder of new-writing company nabokov. He has worked as a theatre director in the UK, Poland, Malta, Sweden, Chile and Venezuela.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Start-up
Force it into existence
Entrepreneurialism
If it didn't exist you'd have to invent it
Invent the future
Showbusiness
Inspiration

Grow
Practise
Taste
Kleptomania
Things you can do to become a better director
Training
Assisting
Get a proper job
Stay on the fucking bus
Always learning
Failure

Production
Research
Concept
Creatives
Casting
Casting directors
Thank you cards
Prep
Fear
First days
Readthrough
Rehearsal
Body language
Notes
I don't know
Runs
Tech
Perspective
Contradiction
Dress
Previews
Cuts
Press night cards
Press night
Reviews
The show must go on?

Life
Work/life balance
Ikigai
Sacrifice
Realism
Drinking (with actors)
Fitness
Flow
Antisocial

Skills
You're only one skill in the room
Job description
Leadership v management
Fergie or Wenger?
Delegation
Clarity
Consistency
Transparency
Responsibility
Resilience
Patience
Dynamism
Tenacity

Running the show
Strategy
Values
Culture
Recruitment
You can do anything (but not everything)
Fundraising
Consultative selling
Managing up
Media
Debrief

Wisdom
Mentors
Always work with people better than you
Don't work with the same people
Undeniability
No excuses
Don't put things off
Quotes
Just do the play
Don't be a dick
The colour wheel
Notes to writers
Flattery
Luck

Exhortations
Boldly go
Advocate
Excellence
Pass it on
Empathy
Diversity
The Netflix standard
Touring
Populism
Non-negotiables
Safety
Top 5 TED talks
Top 5 high-performance podcast episodes
Imposter syndrome
Be kind

Afterword
Bibliography