Ye Gods!

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

A 'rollicking' farce, with a rather original plot, ending in a sort of burlesque of the Bacchae of Euripides. A Professor sends a collection of African idols to the house of his nephew Jimmy. Jimmy insults them by putting them up to auction to his house party. They come to life - for Jimmy only: the others don't know - and put the 'love spell' on him, which means that from sunrise to sunset the next day every [sic] woman will fall in love with him except the woman he loves who will hate him. In act II this duly happens. The women in the house, including a housemaid, the elderly wife of a doctor, a Colonel's fiancee and so forth, all fall in love with him, while his own fiancee rejects him. In Act III the Professor arrives and explains to Jimmy that their mania will grow worse and worse until they chant about love and blood and tear him in pieces, like the Bacchae. This is apparently going to happen, but Jimmy appeals to the chief Idol for protection and then they all become normal again and when the Professor tries to tell them what has happened [they] think he is mad, having forgotten everything. It should be fairly amusing, but it is very long drawn-out. It is possible that the women's love making may be unpleasant, but there is no need to infer that from the script. The maniacal scene, with the chant of 'love and blood' and 'howlings' - Act III, p.p. 32,33 might be extremely unpleasant, but I do not think it calls for any interference as it stands: it is of course all nonsense which would be spoiled by any real intensity. Recommended for License. G. S. Street