... By Horace Horsnell Flare Path (Apollo) FROM Shakespeare to Sherriff, our native dramatists have been strongly attracted by the humours of soldiering. Even Mr. Shaw, in Arms and the Man, succumbed to their charm. And when a war play is written by a service playwright, the humours and heroics are likely to share equal honours. Shake speare's Henry V and Mr. Sherriff's Journey's End-- to cite two ...

... By Horace Horsnell Night of the Garter (Strand) One's first reaction to these headstrong revels, whether delight or dismay, depends rather on one's attitude to farce in general and what one expects of a ten-year-old with that pun in its title. Later reflection may lead one to feel that farce is the true surrealism. And indeed the attempts of modern painters to explore the terra incognita of ...

... Tales of Hoffmann at The Strand ARE you adventurous in your theatre going? If so, here is a new experience which you should be quick to enjoy. If, on the other hand, you are a dyed-in-the- wool operatic conventionalist, then stay away from the Strand Theatre, because George Kirsta's fantastication of the familiar Tales of Hoffman would make you very angry. I he first shock is to find ...

... By Horace Horsnell Home and Beauty (Playhouse) THE revival of this frivolous comedy should help to correct the view that, as a satirical artist, Mr. Somerset Maugham draws directly from the life. Its characters-- Victoria and her two husbands, at any rate, whose tangled affairs the plot unravels-- can hardly be credited with so prosaic an origin. They are of imagination all, or nearly all, ...

... AUTHORS IN A MODERN MOOD Somerset Maugham's Wartime Personalia Evelyn Waugh's Rollicking hut Pointed Satire Paul Capon's Promising Start 7s[eil Bell's Dramatic Polish -By Vernon Fane APPARENTLY Mr. Somerset Maugham had some doubts about publishing his new book, STRICTLY PERSONAL (Heine- mann. 8s. 6d.), in England. It was written for American readers, he says, because I had certain things to ...

... THIS WEEK'S LITERARY MIXTURE Sickert, Cezanne and Echoes of the Impressionist Battle; Osbert Sitwell's Short Stories; Gilbert Frankau's Murder Story Georgette Heyer's Cloak-and'Sword Romance ■By Vernon Fane WITH a good deal of pleasure I have been reading two important books on art and artists. There must be many who, like myself, are inclined to approach the literature of art with a certain ...

... NEW WORKS BY FAMOUS AUTHORS John Steinbeck's Actable TJovel A Afineteenth'century Romance of 7 \[ew Orleans Mr. Priestley's Daik Views of the Black-out --By Vernon Fane I HEAR that Mr. John Stein beck's new work has been produced in New York almost simultaneously as a novel and as a play, and indeed it is easy to see after no more than the first few pages of THE MOON IS DOWN (Heinemann. 5s.) ...

... FICTION AND FACT PERFECTLY BLENDED By Vernon Fane The Smut'black Harlem Artist; The Technique of 7 Novels and Novelettes A Sudan Scrap-book A Librarian's Holidays at Home; The Shipwrecked Naturalist; Science for the Million WHEN a coloured girl called Augusta idly boasts at a party that she is an artist, and then sets out to prove it to Harlem and the world in general, you've got something ...

... Books: Reviewed by Noel Thompson DON'T blame me if this month I have less escapist books than usual on my list of recommendations. Various angles on the war, especially the blitz on London, are beginning to assume a proper pro portion, and to call for perpetuating in print. The number that will live is at present few. One will undoubtedly come eventually from the typewriter of Quentin Reynolds ...

... Books (Continued from page 28) is the root cause of the trouble, and that by world co-operation a basis for a lasting peace can be achieved. There are numerous charts, tables and maps, and his section on the problems and aspirations of J apan in the Pacific makes accurate reading at the moment. This is a book to study and keep by you when you feel argumentative and want to be sure of your ...

... : Reviewed by Noel Thompson BEST book of the month, maybe because I am tired of attempts to dramatise this impossibly dramatic war, is Spenlove in Arcady (Faber and Faber, 10s. 6d.). This is the third book which William McFee has written about Spenlove, the lovable mariner with the broad knowledge of human nature. Spenlove has now retired and settled quietly in rural America, although ...

... . By L. P. HARTLEY. BOWEN'S COURT is the story of a family and a house. Perhaps I should put the house first. Summaris ing the history of her home, Miss Bowen says: Rocking gales, limestone sweats, money embarrassments, complex affections, unhappy alienations, nhncp nf pmntinpss lnnplv nltsps- sions, strictnesses, latitudes, chil dren and soldiers have all left their mark on the house. A ...