THE THEATRE
" Henry IV " (Part I). At the New." The Rivals." At the Criterion.
I SHALL have nothing to say about the present splendid revival by the " Old Vic " Company at the New Theatre of Shakespeare's Henry IV until next week, when I have seen Part II, but I can recommend my readers now to book seats as soon as they can get them, for it will prove.an outstanding experience. It is very pleasant to find so charming a theatre as the Criterion now re-opened, and this production of Sheridan's The Rivals ought to fill it for some time. It is a play that is ever promising more than it performs, but Sheridan's sleight of hand is so cunning that we always think we are being well entertained. Particularly is this so when the play is well-cast and dressed so munificently as it is on this occasion by Mr. Oliver Messel. It has the additional advantage of letting us see once more on the stage Miss Edith Evans, whose Mrs. Malaprop is a rare delight. It is also one which some (but I am not among them) will disapprove of, for she gives her more breeding and distinction than is customary. This I find an advantage, for it gives a tang to those malapropisms which have become so famous that commonly some of their brilliance is lost. But how brilliant they mostly are—the " allegory on the banks of the Nile,", for example— and how exquisitely Miss Evans detaches them into the waiting air! I liked Audrey Fildes' Lydia Languish. She gave the young woman a real personality, so did Jean Wilson for Julia, while Reginald Beckwith was a rich and vital Bob Acres and Anthony Quayle an attractive Captain Absolute. Peter Cushing was a thoroughly plausible and distracted Faulkland, but I did not think 'Brefni O'Rourke gay.: full weight to Lucius O'Trigger.
JAMES REDFERN.
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