New technologies have made lighting more prominent in live performances of all kinds, not just stage theatre, and in many courses lighting has been subsumed into `performance lighting'. Performance Lighitng Design is a practical guide to the art and technique of lighting for the stage, concerts, exhibitions and live events. The book will also cover the use of projected images in performance including projected scenery on the West End stage, in fringe shows, and on the stadium 'rock' stage, as well as the use of images from live camera and from other sources as 'performers'.

The book will serve students of lighting design and will also be accessible to anyone with an awareness of technical theatre. Practical knowledge is combined with aesthetic and theoretical considerations. The book will also address the difficult area of getting inspiration and evolving design ideas through a broad range of performance genre. The author will use case studies of top professional practitioners, discuss the pros and cons of several computer based techniques, and incorporate 25 years of his own professional experience in the UK and Europe.

The first thing that strikes one about this book is the colour and activity within the pages. It's a bit like reading the Hello! Annual, except this one has lucid words as well as pictures, and of course is nothing to do with celebrity watching - if you are that good at lighting design and mix with celebs you won't need this book.

Graphic design aside, this is a book about lighting and Moran has given it a balanced and informative treatment. He starts by introducing light composition, and how it behaves in the environment around us, as well as how colours are formed and appear in transmission and reflection (using some good graphic illustrations). This then acts as a precursor to describing lighting in photography, our perception of lighting and performance lighting itself.

The next chapters investigate the hardware that makes up a lighting system. This is not a hands-on 'how to wire a plug' guide, but more an appraisal of the different lighting fixtures and what sort of uses they can be put to, along with some programming notes for moving lights. This fixture knowledge is put to good use in describing lighting positions; the typical photos depicting people lit from above, below and the sides adorn the pages.

The artistic element comes to the fore later on as the use of colour is described, before diving head-first into the skills needed to extract a design from a script - something that requires good communication and integration with the creative team, on which Moran has some sagacious advice for the newcomer. With a broad plan in place, Moran then leads the reader on through the process of creating cue structures and the 'bigger picture' before looking at translating this into a lighting plan and this itself is given thorough coverage.

The next chapter becomes more practical, looking at translating the plan into the finished product, and discusses the fit-up including hanging, focussing and patching, whilst also giving a few tips regarding health and safety law and working at height. The final chapters take the reader through the complex process of setting up cues, working with the stage manager and the prompt book, and goes into detail about keeping fastidious records to help keep things moving smoothly. The last chapters look at improving the lighting once the run of a show has started, as well as a little peek into the future of LED and fluorescent lighting - and even assessing the carbon footprint of your show.

In all, this is well written and very easy to dip in and out of - it also has a meticulous attention to detail and the reader will gain a very accurate understanding of the creative process, especially when it comes to setting up and programming. It makes an ideal text book for students or those working in amateur dramatics and comes highly recommended.