Introduction Part One: Preparing for Rehearsals 1. Organising your early responses to the text 2. Organising information about each scene 3. Investigating the big ideas of the play 4. Analysing the action of the play 5. Deepening work on character 6. Building relationships with your production team 7. Selecting actors and testing starting points for rehearsals 8. Preparing the rehearsal environment Part Two: Rehearsals 9. The initial few days of rehearsals 10. Building the world of the play 11. Working on the scenes of the play Part Three: Getting into the Theatre and the Public Performances 12. Technical and dress rehearsals 13. The public performances Part Four: Context and Sources 14. How I learnt the skills the book describes.