The Canon teaching methodologies together form a ‘cookbook’ for teaching and learning about the history of technical theatre. Each ‘recipe’ in the cookbook describes a learning activity. Some methodologies are specific to a particular field, such as architecture, or lighting, while others can be used to learn about any aspect of technical theatre. Each methodology describes the process, the resources needed and the preparation required, as well as indicating the type of student it is intended for, the kind of learning process it is, and how long it will take. We also offer some tips and advice, based on our experience as ‘chefs’.

As with any cookbook, we invite you to create your own preferred variations. If you are cooking for more or fewer guests, just for yourself or for a small army, if you just want a snack or need to prepare a banquet, please feel free to adapt the recipes we have included here. The tastes offered by the history of technical theatre can be aromatic, spicy, rich, sweet or delicate, homely or exotically unfamiliar. They can feed not only a technological understanding, but also our imagination about what theatre can be, how it can be made, and what effect it can have in the world.

Above all, like any cuisine, the recipes here offer a means to get to know the people and cultures they come from, nourishing our sense of who we are today and how we want to shape our tomorrow. So, whether you cook for yourself, for others or only in your imagination, we hope our cookbook will enable you to relish a taste of technical theatre’s nutritious past!