Directors, What Do You Actually Mean by “Difficult Performer”?

by Chris Peterson

There are few labels in theatre that can stick to a performer faster, or do more quiet damage, than being called “difficult.”

It is one of those words that gets passed around in green rooms, production meetings, and casting conversations. And once it lands on someone, fairly or not, it can follow them for years.

That is why I think directors, producers, and theatre leaders need to be much clearer about what they actually mean when they call someone difficult.

Because after a recent conversation I had with a director, I realized that for some people, “difficult performer” simply means “actor who asked me to explain myself.”

There are absolutely difficult performers. Let’s not pretend otherwise. We have all seen them. That behavior is real. It is exhausting. It can derail rehearsals, damage morale, and make an already hard process even harder.

But that is not the same thing as a performer asking a question.

It is not the same thing as someone needing clarification on blocking. It is not the same thing as someone saying they are uncomfortable with a piece of staging, a costume choice, a rehearsal expectation, or the way they are being spoken to.

And it is definitely not the same thing as a performer simply having a personality that does not flatter the director’s ego.

That is where this label becomes dangerous.

Too often, “difficult” becomes a convenient little bucket where directors toss anyone who challenges them, even gently. Someone asks why a choice is being made. Difficult. Someone wants to understand the emotional logic of a scene. Difficult. Someone pushes back on being treated unprofessionally. Difficult.

At that point, we are not really talking about professionalism anymore. We are talking about control.

Directors should absolutely expect actors to show up prepared, be respectful, listen, collaborate, and do the work. That is not unreasonable. That is the job. But directors also have a responsibility to define their expectations with some maturity. If your definition of a difficult performer is “someone who occasionally asks me to explain myself,” then the problem may not be the performer.

It may be you.

And before that label gets whispered into someone else’s ear, before it costs someone a role, a callback, or a relationship in the community, maybe we should pause and ask a very simple question:

What did they actually do?

Because “difficult” should mean something. It should not be shorthand for “they made me feel less powerful.”