24 DECEMBER 1927, Page 18

The title of Mr. W. J. Lawrence's work, The Physical

Con- ditions of the Elizabethan Public Playhouse (Humphrey Milford and the Harvard University Press, 7s. 6d.), sufficiently explains its contents. It is a highly technical book, containing an exhaustive explanation of various theatrical terms and devices and a most meticulous examination of stage directions, which will mainly appeal to advanced students of the Eliza- bethan drama, but it will also perhaps assist the general reader towards a better understanding of Shakespeare's plays.