Four important theatre-directing books have been published since 2003. Frank Hauser and Russell Reich's book Notes on Directing (2003) offers guidance on day-to-day directorial processes, while Eugenio Barba's On Directing and Dramaturgy (2009) is a poetic account of his work. Katie Mitchell's focused and precise The Director's Craft (2008) is centred around her production of The Seagull, and Mike Alfreds's Different Every Night (2007) is often regarded as the definitive directorial guide. Rob Swain endeavours to add to the existing canon of directing manuals with his Directing: A Handbook for Emerging Theatre Directors.

Rob Swain runs one of the UK's most successful postgraduate courses in directing: the MFA Theatre Directing at Birkbeck (University of London). Drawing from his professional experience as a director and his eight years at Birkbeck, the book is structured in the same way as his two-year course. There are seven chapters and, after a short introduction, the author offers practical exercises and two or three accompanying interviews per chapter (except for chapter 6) with industry practitioners. At the end of each chapter, he includes a bibliography section for further reading and list of up-to-date website links to relevant companies/organizations.

In the opening chapter, ‘I'm a Theatre Director’, Swain introduces the industry and the several directing courses in the UK, and discusses the importance of knowing the canon ‘from the Greeks to Harold Pinter’ (p. 7). The second chapter deals with the director and the actor and presents brief overviews on practitioners such as Stanislavski, Brecht, Chekhov, Meisner, Hagen, Bogart and Laban, as well as a reference to the important contemporary theatre directors Alfreds, Donnellan, Mitchell and Stafford-Clark. This chapter also gives detailed advice about how to deal with specific aspects of the job (runs) and the rehearsal process. The relationship of the director with the author and the designer are addressed in consequent chapters, and chapter 5 is dedicated to the UK theatre industry, which ‘contributes £4.6 billion to the economy annually’ (p. 192). It raises some important questions on personal development, three-year plans and budgets and asks the readers to place themselves firmly on the business side. Making a clear distinction between the commercial and the subsidized sector, Swain argues that there is often close collaboration between the two and that they are ‘mutually dependent’ (p. 203). Swain discusses some important aspects of the production period (auditions, first rehearsal and press nights) and finishes with the final chapter on ‘The Director and Directing’, where he highlights support mechanisms, networks and many professional opportunities for emerging directors in the UK. He concludes by asking two important questions: ‘Why do you want to direct? and Where do you see yourself in five years’ time? Asking yourself why helps to interrogate the what, refine it, and then articulate it more fully and clearly’ (p. 291).

The sixteen interviews offer important contexts to the discussion, but my impression was that they interfere with the structure of the book. Still, Rob Swain's book is most certainly the most up-to-date UK theatre-directing manual, with a wealth of information on the practicalities, challenges and splendours of the craft.