CONTEMPORARY ARTS
THE THEATRE
" Maiden's Prayer." By Robert Charles. (Playhouse.)
WE all know, or we all think we know which is much the same thing, what a raw deal playwrights get in the theatre. Timid, shrink- ing, down-trodden souls, they stand helplessly by while the producer and the cast mangle their dialogue, smother their subtleties and generally prostitute their art. To prostitute the art of Mr. Robert Charles would, however, be a task of such extraordinary difficulty that I think he must have been spared the mental tortures traditionally associated with the dramatist's calling. At no point during this regrettable performance did there seem to be any divergence from the high standards of vulgarity and facetiousness which the author
had set himself; was possible to feel sorry for the actors, it was difficult not to eel sorry for oneself, but the author did not qualify as an object of compassion. Maiden's Prayer is a singularly tasteless farce about a divisional commander in B.A.O.R., and I rather agree with the critic who took exception to the division being identified by the desert rats on its shoulder flashes with a real one. You may object that this is being over-nice, like the people who want the Lord Chamberlain to with- hold a licence from any drama in which their great-uncle is portrayed in an unflattering light ; my only answer is that you—unless you have been very unwise or very unlucky—have not seen Maiden's Prayer. Mr. Arthur Riscoe and Miss Roberta Huby head the cast.
PETER FLEMING.
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