Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Richard III and many other Shakespeare plays have at least one thing in common: fight scenes, usually with swords.

This book is a step-by-step guide to choreographing stage combat scenes, particularly the principal duels (both comic and tragic) in Henry IV, Henry VI, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Coriolanus, Cymbeline and The Two Noble Kinsmen.

The safety and training of actors is also covered as well as a brief history of Elizabethan swordplay. The work includes 473 illustrations.