26 JANUARY 1934, Page 6

If East Lynne at the Little Theatre does not have

one of the longest runs in London there is something wrong with London. Read in 1934, Mrs. Henry Wood's immortal novel is a burlesque in itself, and the play based on it, rendered in the style of an 1860 stock com- pany, gives London something it has never had since the Elephant and Castle melodrama disappeared. The first-night audience on-Wednesday, sophisticated though it looked, rose gallantly to the occasion,. hissing the villain, shouting encouragement to the heroine and Picking up the duped husband's song with the best of them. All admirably calculated to lift the years off the middle-aged and make them feel as they did them-