... OJt iis^ Dark Eyes (Strand) Anthony Cookman with Tom Titt THE three Russian bal lerinas are enchanting company. They really refresh the old joke of the comic foreigner. Not only are they as picturesquely absurd as Slavs should be according to our ideas, but their absurdity springs from something recognizably and enviably human a superb zest for life. It is absurdity touched by a kind of wild ...

... The Glass Menagerie Haym arket) Anthony Cook man with Tom Titt REMEMBERING Mama has be come a national pastime in America. She is an or dinary woman, absurd in some ways but devoted, not always easy to live with but not to be men tioned in after years without a catch in the throat. It is a theme which, in Bacon's phrase, should come home to the business and bosoms of men everywhere, but for ...

... (tt Anthony Cooknuin The Indifferent Shepherd (Criterion J and THIS not quite satisfactory play is much more worth seeing than many another deservedly voted completely successful. The chief characters are human beings whom Mr. Peter Ustinov understands and whose hearts and minds he explores with a sympathy at once delicate and perceptive. It is unfortunate that some of the incidents chosen to ...

... GJt Anthony Cookman antl Tom Titt Macbeth (A Id wye h) A REVIVAL in the very spirit of the times! All around are Planners, hard at work on society, often with disconcerting results; it was only to be expected that sooner or later they would turn their attention to the production of Shakespearian tragedy. The results are decidedly odd. The attraction of this particular tragedy for planners is ...

... I Fight to Five Roman Britain A House in the I'plandiii M Daisy Miller Elizabeth Havens I FIGHT TO LIVE, by Robert Boothby, M.P. (Gollancz; 2Is.), bears out its author's choice of a title: it is a fine fighting book. On the wrapper it is called autobiography, but actually throughout the greater part the per sonal narrative is submerged-- I Fight to Live has, rather, the build of an ...

... Elizabeth Havens Concluding Round the Year with Lady Addle Cigarette Card Cavalcade The Rape of Lucretia LAST week the children had it; and one or two last-minute children's books may, I hope, be a pendant to next week's page. Meanwhile, with Christmas approaching, there is the grown-up, donor or recipient, to be thought of. The book destined to be a Christ mas present should, I feel, have ...

... (bfc Carissima Palace Anthony Cookman with Tom Titt IN the light musical theatre we are, according to revue writers, the friends of every country but our own. A joke must have a foreign trade mark before we are amused by it; no Robinson or Brown can hope to be recognized by us as a musician; and on our seemingly endless enthusiasm for Oklahoma! and Annie, Get Your Gun the American export drive ...

... All My Sons (Lyric, Hammersmith Anthony Cook man with Tom Titt WITH this play Mr. Arthur Miller won the year's award made by the dramatic critics of New York. The public, naturally suspicious of what has pleased a body of experts, may be assured that the prize piece is good theatre absolutely and not merely good on points. It tells a highly emotional, curiously moving story. Joe Keller is a ...

... (Mr ILl^ ^t^ruMAjL- Anthony Cookman with Tom Titt Bob's Your Uncle Saville J IT would be ridiculous to do badly in 1948 what had already been done superlatively well in 1819. In describing Munden, Lamb, with prophetic eye, described Mr. Leslie Henson. When you think that he has exhausted his battery of looks, in unaccountable warfare with your gravity, suddenly he sprouts out an entirely new ...

... OA Cage Me A Peacock (Strand) Anthony Cookman with Tom Titt HERE again are those funny fellows, the ancient Romans-- with their bare knees and shin guards and short, broad swords and Elizabethan beards and plumed helmets and port wine faces, and their disconcerting habit of dropping into modern slang and their simple but not always predictable reactions to little American blondes who only ...

... A LA CARTE IT is a handsome menu-- and, thank heaven, we are not fussed about by too many cooks. Indeed, there are only four names at the head of the Savoy programme: Book and lyrics, Alan Melville; Music, Charles Zwar; Production, Norman Marshall; Décor, dresses, dances, William Chappell. Here is a change from the monstrous regiment of authors, lyrists, composers, choreographers, designers, ...

... BOOKS IN BRIEF Lucy Walter, Wife or Mistress. By Lord George Scott. (Harrap 12s. 6d.) After the thundering rhetoric of the Preface (which opens Having for many years felt rightful indignation at the cruel calumnies which have continually been heaped upon the moral character of my ancestress it is surprising to find that this is a scholarly and persuasive book. Bridge to Brooklyn. ft By Albert ...