New Plays

Cymbeline. Sothern and Marlowe in a production of Shakespeare's " romance" that is more parody than performance. For three and a half hours no character walks faster than a dead march or speaks faster than five words a minute. The star is Frederick Lewis as Iachimo.

Floriani's Wife. Academically interesting, but not emotionally vigorous, this play by Luigi Pirandello (Italian playwright, who wrote Six Characters in Search of an Author) arrived in a Greenwich Village theatre, off the beaten Broadway track. It tells of a wayward woman, her attempt to return to her child and husband, her failure. Margaret Wycherly is the redeeming feature. But even the fire of her intelligent performance shines but dimly under the bushel of interminable talk.

What's Your Wife Doing? is one of those farces.

Act I. A and Mrs. A desire a divorce in order to inherit two million. B agrees to act as co-respondent of convenience.

Act II. B and Mrs. A are having a "compromising" supper party. Mrs. A catches a bun. Suddenly the whole cast begins arriving. From fire-escapes, closets, bathroom, through sawed panels and from behind couches, uncles, grandfathers, husbands and detectives pop suddenly into being. And such a slamming of doors and banging of windows and cries of " My God, what are you doing here ?" B's fiancee appears in time to render affairs positively catastrophic.

Act III. Broken hearts are sorted and reglued.

The second act makes amusing roughhouse. The rest is ghastly.

Forbidden. One rather feels that Forbidden ought to be terribly funny. Somehow it falls short. It deals with the popular but hardly novel urge in man and woman to do things they shouldn't. This, if one thinks back, was the primary drama, set in an apple orchard, played by Adam and Eve. Sydney Roserifeld (author of this current version) deals with the comic values of : the case, demonstrates :" that: they did those things much better years ago. "

Tarnish. The advent of a new dramatist and of a new star made the production, of this play particularly significant. Gilbert Emery, soldier of fortune, writer, actor, is the author. Ann Harding, an able but previously undistinguished player, is the actress to whom the wise men carried their literary frankincense and myrrh.

Mr. Emery has ragged respect for his masculine brethren. His theme: " The soul of every man is tarnished. The good clean more easily than the bad,"

He argues his case by presenting his hero in the arms of a cheap woman. His fiancee, by a set of shrewdly woven and convincing circumstances, finds her man thus.

The ensuing clash between the philosophies of the two women burns and penetrates. Logic in scarlet wins. Yet the overpowering charm of Ann Harding, the fiancee, forces her fallacies into discard and her hero, tarnished, returns. Tom Powers is the man and Fania Marinoff is the woman of the streets. While both are capable, their performances pale before the brilliancy and beauty of Miss Harding.

The author's handling of character and conversation is conspicuously fine. A bit: "There are two ways for a girl to get a fur coat, and one of them is to buy it. Burns Mantle: " Simple, direct and honest."

Heywood Broun: " The most interesting entertainment which the theatre has offered this season." Nine O'Clock Revue. After the first act of this English importation one could practically see the experts "marching through the lobby singing: " London's best is falling down, falling down, falling down! " For that is what it did. It brought to American audiences little except exquisite taste, a striking shadow scene, a few smart lines. Produced in the intimate and expensive atmosphere of the Century Roof, it may attain a factitious popularity. The Magic Ring. There is an antique ring and whoever wears it links arms with luck. The heroine starts out as a poor organ grinder. And does she get the ring? And does she marry the lovely fella in the last act? One, two, three, all together now : " Yess! "

Remaining only is Mitzi. From this curiously comatose material she makes a musical comedy that is actually entertaining, sometimes brilliant. And not once does she wear boy's clothes!