An invaluable hands on guide to directing plays from the founder of English Touring Theatre and the artistic director of The Rose Theatre Kingston.

Stephen Unwin takes a step-by-step approach that covers: choosing the play; casting; design; rehearsal (establishing facts, improvisation, language, character, blocking, using specialists); running the play; putting it on the stage; and opening night.

As Unwin himself says: 'Directing plays is difficult. The aim of this book is to lay out what skills are needed, and to give some sense of how you might develop them."

Written by a true professional - one of the UK's most successful theatre practitioners - the book is extraordinarily helpful and useful for directors in many other contexts - amateur dramatics, university drama, school plays and drama groups. "Directing is directing, wherever you do it.