Theatrical check list

George Jean Nathan

• BITTER OLEANDER (Frederico Garcia Lorca)—Novia marries Novio though still yenful for Leonardo. In the end, Leonardo and Novio go to it and kill each other, the while Novia lies on the floor and bemoans her fate. You take it. (Lyceum)

• THE ELDEST (Eugenie Courtright)— Not only an excessively had play but one so confused that it was next to impossible to make out just what it was driving at. Not that I unduly strained myself trying to. Enough is enough. (Ritz)

• NOAH (André Obey)— A Biblical fantasy with much to recommend it, despite an acting company that, save for Pierre Fresnay, is mediocre. The direction, too, leaves a lot to be desired. But this Obey is a playwright considerably above the present French run. (Longacre)

• RAIN (John Golton and Clemence Randolph) The play, made from the Maugham story, that took the country by the ears twelve years ago. It has somewhat less drive today hut it nevertheless retains vitality. Tallulah Bankhead hasn't the Eagels' wings in the role of Red-Light Sadie but makes an occasional satisfactory flight. (Music Box)

THREE MEN ON A HORSE (J. G. Holm and George Abbott) Some laughs on tap here. Nothing to wax critically eloquent about, but now and again serviceable light popular theatrical diversion. (Playhouse)

• ESCAPE ME NEVER (Margaret Kennedy)—The play is a hackspiel but Elisabeth Bergner's performance will allow you to practise some analytical criticism and to decide whether she is all she has been cracked up to he. (Shubert)

• POINT VALAINE (Noel Coward) Drolly over-passionate sex drama acted into popularity by Lynn Fontanne, Alfred Lunt and an excellent company. As dramatic art it ranks with The Squall and Love's Gall of blessed memory. (Barrymore)

• THE PETRIFIED FOREST (Robert Emmet Sherwood) Leslie Howard, Peggy Conklin, Humphrey Bogart and other proficient performers adorn a melodrama that is all right when it contents itself with being simply a melodrama but that makes the judicious grieve when it tries to go allegorical and philosophical. (Broadhurst)

• THE CHILDREN'S HOUR (Lillian Hellman) The best American-made drama currently on view. (Elliott)

• RAIN FROM HEAVEN (5. N. Behrman)—The best American-made comedy currently on view. (Golden)

THE SIMPLETON OF THE UNEXPECTED ISLES (George Bernard Shaic) -Muddled and excessively tedious chowder of allegory, fantasy and stale wheezes at the expense of the English. And if anyone says that it is better suited to the library than to the stage, shoot him. Its proper place is the wastebasket. (Guild)