THE CRIMSON PLAYGOER

Whether or not you enjoy "Next Door", which opened Monday night at the Hollis depends entirely upon you. If you like a play that is undoubtedly clever and well written, that gets at least half of its laughs by having the charming young heroine say, "Damn;" and that is a faithful representation of domestic life in a small town by all means go and see it. If, on the other hand, you dislike seeing portrayed on the stage characters that you would shun in real life, characters that are unattractive, mediocre, cross and uninteresting, even in the heights of their emotion, stay away.

Last Few Minutes Good

Personally I belong to this second class and so perhaps my opinion is prejudiced. The whole thing reminded me of "Babbitt." Like that book it had a very good ending, the last two minutes were really worthy of the name of comedy: but like Babbit again it achieved this triumph mostly by contrast with what went before. One has to sit through all of two acts (mercifully short) and nearly an equal amount of a third in order to be amused for a few minutes at the very end.

Miss Lyon Is Effective

There was one good piece of acting in the evening: that of Miss Lyon as Mrs. Sheridan. She rose from the depths of gloom to the heights of joy with a spontaneity that was remarkable; the scene with her good-for-nothing husband was terrible in its pathos; and yet never once did she over do her part, never once did she strike a false note. The rest of the cast was realistic but unimportant.

If then, you want to be amused stay away from the Hollis. If you want to be depressed and have a most excellent view of a humdrum, small town, existance go to see "Next Door."