gentleman of independent means, is said to be living apart
from his wife and with his mistress, but it was surely a cherished conven- tion of Edwardian comedy that the marriage bond was sacred, if not inviolable. All the gay talk of divorce is quite out of place in 1910. What about the scandal? One would think. seeing this play, that Mr. Holder had never heard of the social pressures which lie behind the very existence of the social comedy of the Edwardian age. Flora Robson as wife and Jean Kent as mistress masquerade to the best of their ability, but unfortunately this is not Miss Robson's thing at all. It is more Wilfred Hyde White's, though he remains a trifle aloof throughout and does not come near Mr. Holder's interpretation of his son Eustace. Mr. Holder indeed strikes me as giving the best performance in his own play. But to write a stylised comedy it is necessary to have a style; this he has neglected.
Philip King's Serious Charge and his comedy Sailor Beware (in collaboration with Falkland Cary) hit the jackpot much more certainly, but it is not a very high jackpot. The first of these two plays deals with the experience of a clervman of the Church of England unjustly accused of a serious charge. Patrick Mac- Goohan gives the hero much charm and authority, while Anthony Wager makes a loathsome figure of his accuser. The total re- suit is a very passable melodrama which comes across the footlights without the least hint of the social problem play and with a rather larger than life picture of the English village (always a sure recipe for stage success). Sailor Beware is also deeply rooted in English folk- ways. This kitchen comedy includes every joke (from mothers-in-law to toast-racks) that has ever been made about marriage. Peggy Mount as the mother, who plays both Scylla and Charybdis to her daughter's young man, gives a performance instinct with horrid truth. She roars and bullies, snaps and frets with the immense and hideous gusto of one whose mission it is to make other people's lives a hell on earth. Incidentally, she is also extremely' funny, and the rest of the cast are good foils to her. Sheila Shand Gibbs is irritatingly sloppy as our Shirt, and Richard Coleman under- standably puzzled as her husband-to-be. The whole thing was a huge success, and the audience rolled in the aisles. That's theatre, that was.
ANTHONY HARTLEY
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