Consider Two Merry Milkmaids...

I must have taken more information on board about the Jacobean Theatre than could possibly be remembered while being bludgeoned by the dark plays that characterised that era.

While it's disappointing to admit that I did not sit bolt upright in the middle of the night, awakened by the memory that there were no stage notes in the first (1606) Quarto of "Volpone", the memory that this was the case was buried somewhere in my synaptic function and I now can't remember which Penguin edition brought life, for me at least, to this exquisitely boring play. Metaphors of stagecraft and how art and life parallel one another, which seemingly makes the play the thing, were not lost at the time of reading. Stating the obvious, however, did wear a bit thin over several acts.

Shaw is the most thorough when it comes to satisfying the curious reader of plays. His windows are the most impressive part of his oeuvre and where they are placed is more pertinent to the action than the many, many words his characters insist, uninvited or not, on spouting.

For anybody who loves the theatre, this is a great piece about stagecraft, with all its to-ings and fro-ings...

sddictionary.com/downloads/Dessen-SD1.pdf