The intensity and passion of this relationship are occasionally all-consuming," wrote the playwright Richard Nelson. To whom was he referring? His lover? His parent? His child? No, he was talking, in the book Making Plays, about the intense understanding that can develop between a playwright and a director.
The writer-director partnership can be crucial to the success of a new play. A tried-and-tested classic will survive the attentions of an inept director, but a virgin text, mishandled, might never see the light of day again. A good writer-director mix can, on the other hand, produce a magical result that is somehow more than the sum of its components.
