7 APRIL 1923, Page 17

." THE DANCERS" AT WYNDHAM'S.

So this is what people really think is a good play. And so, on the whole, do I. It is bright, easy, competent, enjoyable and empty (of ideas, not of audience). Above all, of course, it provides another opportunity for Sir Gerald du Maurier to show us that he knows exactly how Suburbia thinks "men of position" should behave ; that he knows that one of the school servants at Eton has a peculiar title and that his health is invariably inquired after at reunions of Old Etonians; that the best Fives player is not called the Captain of School Fives. In a word, he gives his audience a quite delightful sense of his knowing—and hence, vicariously, of their knowing —what is what. And, at any rate in the first half of the play, he really does act with a delightful, quick sureness. Miss Carten, who commits suicide in the third act, has also, I am told, made a great success. This is interesting because, though she is perfectly competent, I could not for the life of me see the very faintest touch of remarkableness in her acting. I think, as a matter of fact, that Miss Carten Owes most of her great success to the author, "Mr. Hubert Parsons." Her part is really drawn with—from a box-office point of view—consummate skill. It is one long reassurance to the middle-aged that all they have always said about "the modern girl" is a most just and penetrating analysis of her. And what could be more comforting ? No wonder