THE THEATRE Tint Span'sh playwrights, S. and J. A. Quintero,
enjoyed a brief vogue years ago through translations by Helen and Harley Granville- Barker, but such of their plays as I saw were slight theatrical pieces whose chief interest was their local colour. The Quintero comedy in a Granville-Barker translation now at the Arts Theatre is no bigger matter. It is a pleasant little affair whose three acts spin out slight material in an old-fashioned theatrical style with a redun- dancy of parts and of stale dramatic effects. Far the best scene is the first when the unorthodox behaviour of one of the clerks in a Government department is at length explained by the fact that he has written a tragedy and expects to get it performed. After being reprimanded by his immediate chief for his increasingly un- seemly disrespect ttSwards his superiors he walks out to the con- sternation of his colleagues. Here the play would have done well to end, for whit follows it what everyone would presume—his dis- illusionment and the failure of his play, but this is dragged out in explanatory detail through three more scenes. They were some- what redeemed by the delightful acting and speaking of Grace Lane as a famous and sympathetic actress and the play generally was well-acted with well-designed settings.
The present Sunday afternoon production of the Theatre Moliere at the Comedy Theatre consists of Theodore de Banville's one act comedy, Gringoire, and Labiche's one act play with music, Le Misanthrope et L'Auvergnat, in which Paul Bonifas, Georges Rex, Paul Clams, Andre Frere, Suzy Marquis, Paulette Preney and other members of the principal theatres of Paris appear. Gringoire is a piece of bogus romanticism in which we could, however, admire the superb acting of Paul Bonifas and Andre Frere ; the Labiche comedy is quite amusing • but not one of his best pieces. The Theatre Moliere would make a much stronger appeal if it were more discriminating in its choice of plays and did not neglect more
recent French dramatic literature. JAMES REDFERN.
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