SOMETHING ABOUT ME
“He’s a major theatrical talent … I think Mr. Benington really was the Director of the Year… his direction always manages to be bold, yet lyrical and graceful; it has a great muscular vibrancy to it, but he isn’t afraid to embrace nuance and subtlety when required.” Michael Strangeways, Seattle Gay News on “O Lovely Glowworm.”
ROGER BENINGTON = DIRECTOR + DESIGNER + PLAYWRIGHT
My father was an architect and my mother a South African professional ballroom-dance champion, so it’s in my nature to approach each play I direct by thinking about the space in which the events will take place and about how my actors will exist in and move through that space in order to tell the story in the most dynamic way. Visualizing and defining the spatial and metaphoric environment of a play is the way I begin to investigate what lies at the heart of each theatrical event.
While a directing fellow at The Juilliard School, I had the great privilege of taking design class with the renowned and brilliant theatre designer Paul Steinberg. I also owe a great deal to the artist Rodney Cuellar whose keen eye for design had an enormous influence on my early professional work. Both men inspired me to think differently about what belongs on a stage. A director who personally influenced my work is Barney Simon, founder of The Market Theatre in Johannesburg. He died in 1995. Barney taught me two things about theatre: that directing was simply and always only about storytelling, and that it would never make me rich! As best as I remember it, he used the phrase “be susceptible to contagion” as he urged me to lay myself open to the world. Like Barney did, I love to create work through intense interaction and improvisation with actors. My play The Mormon Bird Play was written with six actors over a seven month period, and many of the plays I’ve written for children, including Timocina & the Crocodiles, were written collaboratively with young actors in the rehearsal room. Two additional directors have impacted my work: my mentors at The Juilliard School, the great American directors JoAnne Akalaitis and the late Garland Wright. JoAnne and Garland inspired me to delve deeply into the text and then approach the storytelling from the most unique and personal place possible.
PAINS OF YOUTH – TOOTH & NAIL THEATRE