25 DECEMBER 1942, Page 18

Red Roses For Me. By Sean O'Casey. (Macmillan. 6s.) MR.

SEAN O'CASEY'S latest play is likely to prove something of a disappointment to his many admirers. It is really " Irish," in the English popular sense of the word, and therefore might be more successful on the stage here and in America than some of his better work. The characters are not far removed from types, and their somewhat lush and picturesque speech may be authentic Dublin lyricism, but it is not such convincing poetic language as that of Synge's peasants. There is also more than a trace of sentimentality and over-ripe idealism in the chief characters, while the fantasy and realism do not, in reading, seem to blend well.