Current Literature
LOVE ON THE DOLE
By Ronald Gow and Walter Greenwood This play, adapted from Mr. Greenwood's novel of the same name, is the first of a new series of modern plays which Messrs. Jonathan Cape are intending to publish at 3s. 6d, a volume. It does not appear so impressive in print as it does on the stage, but for anyone with an interest in the theatre it is none the less well worth reading, and it should certainly not be overlooked by anyone who will not have an opportunity to see the play acted. It is by no means a faultless play : the first act lacks shape, the love-scenes tend towards mawkishness, and the treatment of a chorus of tippling old women is not entirely successful, but the importance of the play's theme, the sincerity of its treatment, and the author's ability to make a real issue out of his subject, more than outweigh these minor shortcomings in technical construction. The picture which the play gives of a group of people reduced to misery and despair by prolonged unemployment is overwhelming in its general effect, and the moving reality of the characters will be apparent to all but the hopelessly insensitive or obtuse. It is a play that ,dernands a serious assessment, and it is absurd for anyone, with whatever motive, to attempt to dismiss it as a piece of artless propaganda. The contemporary English theatre lacks vitality precisely because it is divorced from the social realities of the day, and plays of this kind which face the most urgent of social problems with integrity represent the dramatic type which is most likely to restore it to vitality. No one with any sense of proportion will call this a great play for its intrinsic merit, but if it serves to show the English theatre the absurdity of continuing to play by itself in a disinterested corner it will be impossible to overestimate its importance.
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