The presentation of "Lilies of the Field," John Hastings Turner's comedy, by the Radcliffe Idlers at Agassiz Hall, is unusual among amateur performances in that the play was distinctly less interesting than the acting. Such at least was the verdict of the CRIMSON critic, who saw little to his taste in the coy tale of two Campfire girls (more or less) adventuring in dear old London. The acting of the Idler comediennes, and their Radcliffe colleagues, though marked by the common defeats of amateur theatrics, possessed enough freshness and spontaneity to lift the performances above the average of its kind.

About the play proper there is not much to be said. It is very British in tone, and deals with the complications that follow when a country vicar's daughter reverts to Victorian crinolines in order to win a journey to London, and, ultimately, a husband, together with her twin sister's less devious route to the same goals. The plot is rather more involved than is usual on the contemporary stage. It abounds in "character" parts which require considerable adroitness from the actors, and more experience, perhaps, than undergraduates can supply. There was little wit but much humor in the dialogue, none of it conspicuously original in tone. Reminiscences of A. A. Milne were frequently both in the structure and the lines.

The acting, though more interesting, was less even than the play itself. The hesitation and indecisions which are the bane of amateur first-nights were sometimes in evidence. Timing was imperfect; cues were taken up slowly. The voice of the prompter was too often disconcertingly audible. In the main scenes, however, the cast almost always rose to the occasion, and acted with sincerity and poise. Miss Rosemary McHugh, as Mrs. Rooke-Walter, had most of the catch-lines. Better make-up would have enhanced an excellent attempt to enter into the spirit of the part. Katherine Roberts and Jean Goodale, the heroine-twins, were usually capable and always very charming. Male parts, taken by members of the Harvard Dramatic Club, were generally adequate. To this reviewer, the performance of Mr. John Joyce, Jr., as the Reverend John Head, was the outstanding characterization of the play.

Certainly "Lilies of the Field" is vastly more successful than the Idler's venture last year with the banal pretentiousness of Phillip Barry's "Hotel Universe." Tonight's performance, which will be the last, will doubtless profit from the experience of the first, and deserves an increased attendance. There will be dancing after the performance.