"What you're doing is putting into professional play the way that you relate to other people, the way that you analyze and relate to a written text, the way that you would persuade anybody to do anything. It has to do with listening, with humility and a sense of yourself"
About this Quote
The line reads like a quiet correction to the myth of the director as auteur-god. Trevor Nunn, who built his reputation inside rehearsal rooms rather than behind a single signature “look,” reframes “professionalism” as the disciplined use of ordinary human skills: how you talk to people, how you read, how you persuade, how you listen. It’s pointedly anti-mystical. The craft isn’t a secret key; it’s your personality under pressure, refined into technique.
His phrasing matters. “Putting into professional play” suggests theatre as both game and labor: flexible, responsive, and yet governed by rules. He doesn’t elevate interpretation of “a written text” above the social. Text analysis sits beside “relate to other people,” implying that meaning is negotiated, not extracted. A director who can parse Shakespeare but can’t read a room will still fail. That’s Nunn’s subtext: authority in the arts is earned through relationship management, not declared through taste.
The most revealing triad is “listening, humility and a sense of yourself.” Listening and humility cut against the stereotype of the decisive visionary; they’re also practical tools for getting actors to risk vulnerability. “A sense of yourself” prevents humility from becoming self-erasure. Nunn is advocating an ego with borders: grounded enough to lead, modest enough to be changed.
Contextually, this fits a rehearsal-centered tradition of British theatre and Nunn’s own work across stage and musical theatre, where collaboration is the product. The quote argues that directing isn’t control. It’s calibrated attention.
His phrasing matters. “Putting into professional play” suggests theatre as both game and labor: flexible, responsive, and yet governed by rules. He doesn’t elevate interpretation of “a written text” above the social. Text analysis sits beside “relate to other people,” implying that meaning is negotiated, not extracted. A director who can parse Shakespeare but can’t read a room will still fail. That’s Nunn’s subtext: authority in the arts is earned through relationship management, not declared through taste.
The most revealing triad is “listening, humility and a sense of yourself.” Listening and humility cut against the stereotype of the decisive visionary; they’re also practical tools for getting actors to risk vulnerability. “A sense of yourself” prevents humility from becoming self-erasure. Nunn is advocating an ego with borders: grounded enough to lead, modest enough to be changed.
Contextually, this fits a rehearsal-centered tradition of British theatre and Nunn’s own work across stage and musical theatre, where collaboration is the product. The quote argues that directing isn’t control. It’s calibrated attention.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work |
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