THE THEATRE
MR. SOMERSET MAUGHAM'S comedy was a product of the last war, and was first seen in 1919. The present revival is brilliantly acted and should be successful, in spite of the fact that this is a better war on the home front than the last, and so some of Mr. Maugham's satire has been blunted by improvements, both material and psycho- logical, in our general social behaviour. But the main theme of this very amusing comedy of manners—the portrait of a selfish beauty befooling men—still stands, and offers Miss Isabel Jeans an opportunity to display her astonishing virtuosity. Here is an actress whose art is mature in every detail, whose every word, loud or soft, is always audible, and whose command of a special kind of glittering gaiety is quite unrivalled. The kind of woman Mr. Maugham excels in unmasking is one whose callous ruthlessness needs investing with a totally blinding charm not to be intolerable on the stage, and this is where Isabel Jeans excels. She alone makes credible the fatuous devotion of the shrewd profiteer destined to be her chosen third husband—so different in character and experience to the two simple soldiers lo whom she is married and who in real life would probably never have seen through her. These two simple souls are skilfully lifted to Mr. Maugham's imputed level of intelligence by the clever acting of Barry Jones and Ronald Squire.
In a recent book on British dramatists, Mr. Graham Greene selected Vernon Sylvaine, the writer of farces, as a dramatist of greater aesthetic merit than many more pretentious contemporary playwrights. This writer's farce, Aren't Men Beasts, now at the Garrick, is for the usual Robertson Hare and Alfred Drayton combination. It is fast, furious and undeniably funny. There is no doubt about the author's craftsmanship, and even if, like myself, you are not a lover of farce, you will be mildly entertained by Mr. Robertson Hare's imperturbable priggishness in persistent disaster ; but if farces are to your taste, this is first-rate fare for you.
JAMES REDFERN.
Previous page
