Creativity cannot thrive in an atmosphere of fear, and that has to include fear of clichés, and in our business, fear of theatricality. Could one imagine a musician avoiding musicality?
There is a tendency to believe that theatricality belongs in the hands of the director and designer, and that if you place theatricality in the hands of the actor it is bound to lead to self indulgence, and it is better they don't worry their pretty little heads about such matters anyway. Such a patronizing attitude towards actors only encourages dependency and infantilism.
If "simplify" and "amplify" are the golden rules of style, I am not afraid to emphasise the latter. I would even confess to being an "excessivist!" Minimalism is all too often the last refuge of cowards.
To break it into its component parts:
Musicality plus physicality plus visuality plus emotionality equals theatricality!
