Students of the theatre will find in Mr. Thomas Dickinson's
The Contemporary .Drama of England (John Murray ; 7s. 6d. net) a very sound book of reference, and that it contains a great many intelligent judgments. When we open a book of this sort probably most of us turn to the author's evaluation of Mr. Bernard Shaw and judge the writer by his attitude towards that dramatist. Mr. Dickinson does not fail in the test, though in the face of the £24,000 a year which rumour insists is Mr. Shaw's professional income, it is difficult to agree with him. that Mr. Shaw's plays "have never yet achieved anything like popularity or even general aoceptance." Surely he is ths "best seller" among dramatists ? Apart from this, Mr. Dickinson's criticism and appreciation are very sound— particularly his observation upon Mr. Shaw's having created no great characters and the reasons why this was to be expected.
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