19 AUGUST 1922, Page 26

A really convincin g one-act play is a boon to amateurs,

whether as a curtain-raiser or to round-off a miscellaneous entertainment. With Wrecked and The Romantic Lover (Dublin : M. H. Gill, ls. 6d. each) Mr. Bernard MacCarthy has provided respectively a tragedy and a farce which are excellent in con- struction and dialogue. The Irish temperament seems to get ten times as much excitement into a page as any other, that of Manchester not excepted. One play has four speaking parts and the other five. The scene in each case is a simple room.