... Cbb Tfe, Richard II (New Theatre) THIS was certainly the time for the Old Vic to give us the most delicately English of all plays. Seeing the countryside agleam in its verse should be as good as a spring journey through the coloured counties. Shakespeare had a very poor opinion of our forbears, the noble knights and barons bold, who iostled for nosition round hanless Richard's throne. Yet ...

... Duet For Two Hands (Lyric) GOOD acting glosses over a multitude of faults. Most of the faults of this ghost story of medical science can be accounted for by Miss Mary Hayley Bell's stick-at-nothing determination to write a good acting play. And if you are specially susceptible to good acting Mr. John Mills and his company will waft you breathlessly over what to the less susceptible will appear ...

... By Herbert Farjeon On Approval (Aldwych) HERE are two revivals, the first (unex pectedly) being a revival of the theatre orchestra. This takes one back. Let us hope it also takes one forward. For, speaking generally, live and lively fiddlers are jollier, though admittedly more expensive, than inanimate and unexhilarating grinding- machines, exercising over the atmosphere of the auditorium a ...

... Cbtr e- Anthony Cookman with Tom Titt The Gioconda Smile (New) THE playhouse, once the Devil's favourite haunt, is really a very moral place. Without any prompting from the censor, it imposes all sorts of restraints on authors who, within the covers of their books, are free to be wholly uninhibited. See how even Mr. Aldous Huxley must answer to the bridle. When he wrote the story of a rich ...

... PROUST AM) THE DUKE Elizabeth Boiven IF I had known that he would become famous, exclaimed a lady, naively, I would not have thrown away his letters! How vexatious for her. She spoke of Marcel Proust-- who is the subject of Princess Marthe Bibesco's The Veiled Wanderer (Falcon Press; 7s. 6d.). The young man, at once known and unknown-- known as a wit, a character; un known in that his ...

... MYSELF AT THE PICTURES An Old Problem By James Agate EVERY Hackney judge has been presented with this problem: which of two animals shall he put first, the horse of beautiful quality but little or no action or the common brute who moves magnificently? It's an old teaser. Would you rather your son were at the top of the Fifth form or bottom of the Sixth? Yes, one knows all about Browning with ...

... Elizabeth Hewetis Miss Josephine and the Colonel The Washbournes of Oiterley A .Second Ilook of Russian Verse Green Shiver ORIEL MALET is a young writer who, while still in her teens, made a happy start, and who remains worth watching upon her way. Two novels-- Trust in the Springtime and My Bird Sings-- were followed by Marjory Fleming, biography of Pet Marjory, that Scottish genius ...

... Young Mrs. Barrington (Winter Garden) THE young Mrs. Barrington is a typical figure of the time. She was married four years ago to a dashing fighter pilot whom she has not seen since, and her married life has been no more than a brief, deliriously happy honeymoon and a long correspondence. On the eve of reunion there seems to be more than a chance that time may have made a fool of her and her ...

... By Horace Horsnell Big Top (His Majesty's) THE title of this revue is not to be taken literally. The big top is not a tent, but a triumvirate-- Mr. C. B. Cochran, Mr. Herbert Farjeon, and Miss Beatrice Lillie. Mr. Cochran is, of course, the king of show men, and recherche entertainment is his metier. Mr. Farjeon, as you know, is the ace of wits, whose impertinent inventions are as full of ...

... By Horace Horsnell Ten Little Niggers (St. James's) THE best nightmares do not always inspire the best table-talk. Indeed, as related at breakfast by their still quaking dreamers, they can be notoriously tedious. So is it with critical post-mortems on stage thrillers. In action these apocryphal affairs may excite or amuse by keeping the playgoer in thrilled suspense; but, like fireworks or ...

... Keep Going (Palace) By Horace Horsnell WHEN Pallas Athene sprang full-armed from the brain of Zeus, she gave an example of monogenesis which revues, with rare exceptions, have been chary of following. The purveyors of such entertain ment would seem to favour the safety in numbers watchword, rather than the too many cooks alternative At any rate, the average modern revue is apt to be a ...

... The Winslow Boy (Lyric) IT is with the liveliest anticipation that one goes to a new Terence Rattigan. He alone among the young men has the trick (now exhibited four times in succession) of writing plays that run for years, and though the great cause of Drama has not so far benefited to any notable extent, one always hopes it may. Even when he is plainly content only to serve that other ...