The Theater: New Play in Manhattan, Oct. 17, 1949

Yes, M’Lord (by W. Douglas Home; produced by Lee & J. J. Shubert and Linnit & Dunfee Ltd. by arrangement with John Krimsky) is one of those comedies that are blatantly British and otherwise quiet as mice. Treating of a titled family that has almost gone broke and an England that has gone Labor, it couldn’t be more concerned with politics or less concerned about them.

The unperturbed Earl of Lister shoots rabbits, his unruffled countess keeps ducks, and Tony, their nonchalant heir, after losing a seat in Parliament as a Conservative candidate, promptly tries again as a Laborite. This is too much for the family’s fiercely Tory butler, who stands against Tony and wins the election. But it is one thing, of course, for a butler of the old school to stand in such circumstances, and quite another for him to sit.

A hazy film of satire, or at any rate of spoofing, hangs over Yes, M’Lord. But in general Playwright Home seems to have done his best to make everything as inconsequential as possible. The play’s weakness is not so much that it is trivial, as that it grows tiresome; its scenes are all played twice, including some (like Tony’s with the parlormaid) that shouldn’t be played at all. But there are compensations: some bright nonsensical chatter, some skillful British acting. As the butler. George Curzon. though effective, has himself rather too good a time. As the earl, 79-year-old Veteran A. E. Matthews is brilliantly unemphatic. expertly throwing away a great many lines that the author refused to.