18 FEBRUARY 1955, Page 24

Image In the Sun. By Howard Clewes. (Theatre Royal, Bristol.)

bribe (unless, of course, a bribe is considered a mere formality in those parts, like shaking hands). From time to time drama slithers un- comfortably into melodrama; and it drags down the love affair with it. Yet this play is much better than the sum of its component parts. With a more compelling gunrunner (John Phillips must be counted unlucky to be so miscast) it could hold together for a London run; and certainly it suggests that Mr. Clewes will write some entertaining comedies when he learns to write less derivatively.