Building a Clear Directing Concept: Tone, World Rules, and Audience Focus

1) Concept as Repeatable Rules (Not a Vibe)

A directing concept is a small set of repeatable rules that keeps your choices consistent across the whole production. It is not a theme essay, not a mood board with no limits, and not a list of “cool ideas.” A usable concept answers: “If we face a choice, what rule tells us what to do?”

Think of your concept as five dials you set and then keep returning to:

• Tone: the emotional temperature and how characters behave under it.
• Pace: the overall speed and how quickly moments turn.
• Style of movement: naturalistic, heightened, choreographed, stillness-forward, etc.
• Relationship to space: how actors use distance, levels, entrances, and focus.
• Audience focus: what the audience should notice first (and second) in each moment.

A. Tone rules (with behavioral examples)

Tone becomes practical when it turns into observable behavior. Instead of “dark comedy,” write rules like:

• Rule: Characters avoid sincerity until it bursts out accidentally. Behavior: They interrupt, deflect with jokes, change the subject, or physically busy themselves when emotion rises.
• Rule: The world punishes honesty. Behavior: When someone tells the truth, another character immediately changes distance (steps away), blocks them, or shuts down the light/space.

When tone is clear, actors stop guessing “how funny” or “how serious” and start repeating the same kind of behavior under pressure.

B. Pace rules (what “fast” actually means)

Pace is not just “talk faster.” Decide what moves quickly and what gets time. Examples of repeatable pace rules:

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• Rule: Public moments are fast; private moments are slow. Stage impact: Scene transitions into public spaces happen on the run; private scenes begin with stillness before the first line.
• Rule: Decisions are quick; consequences linger. Stage impact: Characters cross decisively when choosing, then freeze or slow down when realizing the cost.

C. Movement style rules

Movement style is your production’s “body language.” Choose a consistent baseline and a consistent exception.

• Baseline example: Movement is economical and direct; no wandering.
• Exception example: When characters lie, they circle or change levels (sit/stand) to avoid a straight line.

This gives you a simple tool: if a moment feels unclear, check whether the movement matches the rule.

D. Relationship to space rules

Space rules tell you how to stage without reinventing the wheel every scene.

• Rule: Power is vertical. Staging impact: Higher level = advantage; lower level = vulnerability.
• Rule: Intimacy is diagonal, not face-to-face. Staging impact: Confessions happen side-by-side or at a shared task, not squarely confronting.
• Rule: Conflict is distance. Staging impact: Arguments expand the space; reconciliation collapses it.

E. Audience focus rules (what they notice first)

Audience focus is a directing superpower because it prevents “everything is important” staging. Decide what should read first in a moment:

• First priority: Who has control right now?
• Second priority: What is the cost if they lose it?

Then stage so the eye lands correctly: strongest light, clearest sightline, stillness around the focal point, or a single moving figure against still bodies.

2) Choose a Central Question (Spine) and Translate It into Stage Choices

Your spine is a single question that keeps you from making random choices. It should be playable, not philosophical. A strong spine creates a consistent “test” for staging, performance, and design.

Step-by-step: finding a usable spine

• Step 1: Pick a question you can answer with stage action. Good examples: “Who is winning right now?” “What is at stake in every scene?” “What does each character refuse to say?”
• Step 2: Choose one lens. If you pick three spines, you’ll stage three different shows.
• Step 3: Write the spine as a sentence you can point to in rehearsal. Example: “Every scene is a negotiation for safety.”
• Step 4: Translate the spine into 3–5 concrete rules. These become your concept dials.

Example translation: “What is at stake in every scene?”

Let’s say your answer is: “Status and belonging.” Translate that into stage choices:

• Blocking rule: The person with higher status gets the clearest sightline to the audience (open body, downstage access). The lower-status person is angled, partially blocked, or upstage.
• Distance rule: Belonging is shown by shared space (same level, same furniture zone). Exclusion is shown by a gap or a physical barrier.
• Tempo rule: When status is threatened, pace accelerates (overlaps, quick turns). When belonging is threatened, pace slows (silence, hesitation, incomplete gestures).
• Design rule: Warm light indicates inclusion; cooler or harsher light indicates social risk.

Now your spine isn’t an idea—it’s a set of repeatable decisions.

A quick rehearsal tool: the “spine question” callout

When a moment feels messy, pause and ask one question out loud: “What is at stake right now?” Then apply your rules. If the stake is belonging, you might tighten spacing; if it’s status, you might adjust who owns center or who gets stillness.

3) The Concept One-Pager (A Working Document You Actually Use)

A concept one-pager is a single page you can hand to collaborators and return to during rehearsals. It should be specific enough to guide choices and short enough to remember.

Template: copy and fill in

CONCEPT ONE-PAGER (Draft v1.0)

How to write tone words so they’re usable

Pick tone words that suggest behavior, not just mood. Then attach an example.

• Word: “Tense” → Behavior: shoulders held, hands busy, eye contact avoided until confrontation.
• Word: “Playful” → Behavior: quick physical offers (handing objects, teasing proximity), but retreat when challenged.
• Word: “Ritualized” → Behavior: repeated patterns: same entrance path, same seating order, same gesture before speaking.

Key images: what they are and how to choose them

Key images are stage pictures that summarize your concept at a glance. They help designers and actors align without long explanations.

• Choose images that show relationships, not decoration. Example: “Two characters share a small pool of light while others watch from the dark edge.”
• Choose images you can repeat with variation. Example: “A character tries to reach center but is redirected to the perimeter.”
• Choose images that match your spine. If the spine is safety, an image might be “a protective line of bodies” or “a character isolated downstage with no cover.”

Tempo range: keep it as a bracket, not a single speed

Write a range so you can shape contrast without breaking the concept.

• Fast end: overlapping lines, immediate turns, direct crossings, minimal stillness.
• Slow end: held looks, delayed responses, still bodies, sound of breath, consequences landing.

Boundaries: the underrated clarity tool

Boundaries prevent you from “concept drift.” They also protect beginners from overcomplicating.

Examples of useful boundaries:

• “We will not add extra business during important reveals.”
• “We will not use constant movement to ‘keep it interesting.’ Stillness is allowed.”
• “We will not change the movement style scene-to-scene; exceptions must match the rule.”

4) Pressure-Test the Concept Against Three Scenes

A concept is only good if it helps you make decisions quickly. Pressure-testing means taking three different scenes and checking whether your rules produce clear staging, performance direction, and design guidance.

Pick three scenes that stress different muscles

• Scene A: high conflict (argument, confrontation, accusation).
• Scene B: intimacy or vulnerability (confession, apology, private request).
• Scene C: group dynamics (status shifts, alliances, public pressure).

The pressure-test checklist (use this every time)

• Staging: Can I block the scene using my space rules without inventing new logic?
• Performance: Can I give actors playable direction using tone behaviors and movement rules?
• Design: Can I describe lighting/sound/costume priorities using audience focus and key images?
• Consistency: Do any choices contradict the boundaries?
• Clarity: Does the audience know what to notice first?

Pressure-test example (fill-in style)

Below is a model you can adapt. The scene details are generic on purpose; the goal is to show how the concept makes decisions.

What to do when the concept fails the test

If you can’t make clear choices in one of the scenes, don’t add more ideas—tighten the rules.

• If staging feels repetitive: keep the same rule but vary the tool (levels vs distance vs entrances) while preserving the same meaning.
• If actors get confused: rewrite tone words into behaviors (what we see), not feelings (what we imagine).
• If design notes are vague: rewrite audience focus as a priority order: “First notice X, then notice Y.”
• If everything seems allowed: add one boundary that removes your most tempting distraction.

A quick “concept debug” mini-routine

• 1 minute: Say the spine question out loud.
• 2 minutes: Choose the audience focus priority for this beat (first/second).
• 3 minutes: Apply one space rule (center/edge, distance, level) and one movement rule (direct/circle/stillness).
• 1 minute: Check boundaries: are you doing something you promised not to do?