• ISBN13: 9781032746548
• Binding: Paperback
• Subject: Music, Theatre & Films
• Publisher: T&F
• Publisher Imprint: Routledge
• Publication Date: November 12, 2025
• Pages: 360
• Original Price: GBP 35.99
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 470 grams

Theatrical Violence Design offers the reader a complete education in the theory and practice of designing violence for the theater. From sword fights to exchanges of gunfire to domestic violence, the theater abounds in physical conflict. The artists who design that violence, sometimes called fight directors or choreographers, will find in this book an invaluable resource for becoming more expert at their craft. In the chapters of this book, they will encounter the core principles of creating violent effects, the body of knowledge with which they should be familiar, and the nuts and bolts of the process of design work from the first meeting with a director through closing night. This book is written for the student of stage combat to transition into violence design and will also be of interest to experienced violence designers and choreographers.

Richard Gilbert is a violence designer who has been working in the theater for over 30 years and over 300 shows. He is also an academic with a Ph.D. in English from Loyola University Chicago, where he teaches dramatic literature and stage combat. David Bareford has designed the violence for more than 250 productions and has been teaching stage combat for since 1992. He is also a published playwright and director and holds a Theatre degree from Northwestern College of Iowa.