Dame Laura Knight (1877-1970) built a commanding reputation as one of the leading British painters of her generation, with many of her subjects taken from her intimate knowledge of the theatre, the ballet and the circus. Her skill in capturing movement, form and colour excels in her drawings and paintings of such legendary dancers as Karsavina in 'Firebird' and 'The Three-cornered Hat' inspired by the appearances of Diaghliev's Ballets Russes in London from 1919 to 1929 when she also painted and drew Pavlova and Nemikov, Lopokhova, Spessiva and Tchenicheva. Knight's images of rehearsal studios, dressing rooms, the wings of the stage and curtain calls, underline her privileged position as an artist who sees more than the audience usually sees: both the tensions before and the relaxed after-performance scenes.Laura Knight's fascination with the theatre, from knockabout comedy in the Music Hall to grand opera at Covent Garden, is the subject of this absorbing and generously-illustrated book whose publication is timed to coincide with an exhibition of Laura Knight's theatre work at the Lowry Centre, Salford and the Castle Museum and Art Gallery, Nottingham, in Spring 2008, curated by the author Timothy Wilcox.