"I prefer being murdered to murdering," said Flora Robson, artful and fiendish poisoner in "Ladies in Retirement," as she balanced a cup of tea and chatted causally in the Lowell House Common Room yesterday.

The occasion was the Dramatic Club's tea for the cast of T. S. Eliot's "Family Reunfon," which they will produce in Sanders Theatre Friday and Saturday.

Likes Serious Roles

"But I like playing serious roles that I can throw myself into and forget the world better than anything. I am happiest when I have just finished my final tantrum." She sipped her tea and smiled engagingly.

"I want to act with Tracy," she said but before more than an eyebrow could be raised, "because he acts from within. Muni has the same quality." Miss Robson is going to play Ma Baxter in "The Yearling," opposite Tracy this Spring.

"Both Tracy and Muni need no makeup. They are their parts and their makeup spoils their acting as in 'Juarez'."

Miss Robson said that "We Are Not Alone" was the only movie she had ever been in where there was enough continuity to permit acting. "In most you can get away with two expressions as Dietrich does".

The real thrill of acting she held was in the perfection of a part. "Long stands are only during in that the audiences deteriorate. A road trip with continous new audiences containing the cream of the theatre-going crop in each town is always a stimulant to the actors."

"Imitating," she stated, "is the greatest plague of college dramatics. Ease in acting is the result of hard work. Imitators can achieve the ease, but