Cecil Beaton, stage and film designs

Charles Spencer has written the first full-scale study of Cecil Beaton's achievement as a stage designer, and traces Beaton's career from undergraduate efforts with the Cambridge ADC through early designs for Cochran's revues to the triumphantly realised schemes for celebrated productions of Lady Windermere's Fan and The School for Scandal. Based on Sir Cecil's personal recollections, notebooks and sketchbooks, this sympathetic and penetrating account investigates Beaton's contributions not only to the theatre but also to ballet, opera and film, which brought him great acclaim and critical recognition. The evolution and characteristic components of the 'Beaton style' are recorded in a generous selection of illustrations, many from Beaton's private collection and previously unpublished, which point to the deep and lasting impression his remarkable career has left on twentieth-century stage design.