This new experiment in theater criticism is simultaneously a study of one director - Stephen Daldry, director of An Inspector Calls - and a reflection on theater, art, and life. Wendy Lesser's book is an in-depth study of Daldry's work, based on Lesser's responses to many different productions in many different formats: scene rehearsals, dress rehearsals, previews, and performances, fragments as well as whole performances, discarded versions as well as final ones.

The result is an entertaining and wide-ranging commentary on every aspect of theater, from staging, interpretation, and critical response to overheard snippets from actors and stage workers, ideas about music and sound effects, and the financial considerations of producing a play. Particularly compelling is Lesser's analysis of Daldry's gift for collaboration and her detailed description of the intimate relationships that exist between the director and his actors, musicians, technicians, and designers.