Stephen Curtis is one of Australia’s most respected and admired designers and in this practical and informative book he outlines everything you need to know about set, costume and lighting design; taking you from initial concept, script analysis and research ideas to putting it all together.

The book is structured in several layers with the main chapters covering the key steps in the design process, followed by a case study-the Queensland Theatre Company’s production of Pygmalion for which Curtis designed the sets and costumes-giving practical working samples relating to each step in the process. The ‘further thinking’ sections investigate more complex aspects of how designers work, and can be read in sequence or as specialised thought-provoking topics.

There is also commentary from other designers and visual examples of their work, demonstrating that there are many different ways to approaching the design process.