"Amphitryon 38." By Jean Giraudoux. Adapted by S. N. Behrman.
At the Lyric Theatre.
THE legend of Amphitryon has been a gift to comic writers for centuries, and Mr. Giraudoux's cryptic title makes obscure acknowledgment to some thirty-seven predecessors. None, surely, has exploited the legend so deftly as he. r This Boeotian equivalent of the story of Uriah the Hittite, in which Jupiter drops from the sky to play David's part with an easily bam- boozled Bathsheba, gives many a chance for amusing situations and broad innuendo. We have no play by Aristophanes on the theme ; but having M. Giraudoux's, we do not feel the loss.
Amphitryon is a Theban general, Alkmena his faithful wife. Seen and desired by Jupiter,. she must follow Leda, Europa and the rest. War is therefore created, and Amphitryon called away to fight, while in his place and likeness descends the uxorious god. Make the bed for Jupiter.
But with him comes Mercury, also in disguise, and bent on mischief. Amphitryon is recalled untimely, Jupiter's visit is announced to the Thebans, and there are complex knots to be unloosed before the gods can regain the Empyrean and leave the mortals to their earthly loves. The play opens with an admirable prologue in which, lying on a pair of highly pneumatic clouds, Jupiter and Mercury discuss the details of the forthcoming exploit, the zoomorphism of Jupiter's earlier adventures, the nature of human love, the chastity of women, the paternity of Hercules, and almost everything except the musical glasses. Mr. Alfred Lunt and Mr. Richard Whorf play this scene with such bite, sophistication and precision that the mood and tempo of the evening are immediately caught and held. The whole production is witty and finished : at times it takes on a formalised quality which recalls the Compagnie des Quinze productions of Obey : the players presumably worked together for a considerable period in New York, and the action has a smoothness and cohesion usually absent at the beginning of a run. What can one say of Mr. Lunt and Miss Fontanne ? They are so deliciously expert at Theatre Guilding the lily, their technique and their personal charm are so exceptional, that every piece in which they appear is enhanced beyond its intrinsic merit. A play would have to be very dull indeed which they could not make tolerable and even amusing. And Amphitryon 38 is a witty play in itself. It would bear an immediate second visit, and the prologue might well become a habit.
RUPERT HART-DAVIS.
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