29 OCTOBER 1921, Page 16

" CHAUVE-SOURLS " AT THE APOLLO THEATRE. THE Chauve-Souris' performances

are so much the most interest. ing thing happening in the world of the London theatre just now that there is no question of an apology for again returning to them. The company have moved across Shaftesbury Avenue to the Apollo Theatre. Here, free from the hard, garish atmosphere of the London Pavilion, Chauve-Souris are giving us an entirely new programme, except for the inimitable Wooden Soldiers " and " Katinks,." Of the new numbers the hearer can only say, Why were these things hid ? I thought that every single item of the new programme was better than the corresponding one of the old, and as for " Minuet," " Tho King," " The Three Huntsmen," The Hussar Songs" and "The Clown," I only know that they open up a whole new side of theatrical art for one. Now I com- prehend the Paris critics' eulogies. To think that these things have been up till now excluded for such banalities as the Copen- hagen China or the Sevres Figures ! Was it that Mr. Balieff was playing down to an English audience or can we trace in the old programme the marks of some English manager with his timid [utilities about what can and cannot be played before an English audience ? At any rate, the Chauve-Souris are now giving us of their best, and, to do ourselves justice, we are enjoying it.

TARN.