"Master Crook." by Bruce Walker. (Comedy.) Master Crook at the
Comedy' is the play by Bruce Walker which, as Cosh Boy, made a stir at the Embassy. rt is hardly a Christmassy sort of thing, but after a deal of sugar and spice and all things nice elsewhere its rough, crude taste is shockingly welcome. James Kenney plays with furious conviction the part of a sixteen-year old genius who organises his chums into bag-snatching, razor-slashing parties, seduces his best friend's little sister, steals his grannie's life- savings from under her mattress, bamboozles the dizziest of pro- bation officers ever heard of, and triumphantly leaps into the arms of the police away from the walloping which his new father-in-law is about to give him. A fearsome creation, this boy. It is not a convincing play, but the central part is a strong one and it is strongly' taken. The- third act is full of rage, riot and horror, and there are many moments of highly unpleasant, undeniably effective, melo-
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